The War Hawks
by SugarQueen8490
Summary: "We've dealt with the Vespers before. We can deal with them again," he said. She shook her head. "You don't get it. This time it's different. This time only the strongest will survive. So... so lead me to heaven when we die."
1. Chapter 1

**Hey. This is SugarQueen8490. Call me Sugar...or the Queen. I'll accept either. :) First off, I'd just like to say that I didn't by any means steal James Patterson's idea. Kids with wings was just too cool of a subject to pass up. This will be nothing like Maximum Ride, but I hope you like it despite that fact. Guys, I'm a newbie. This is my first Fanfic, so please be gentle. *sigh* I suppose flames will be accepted. I can always toast my English muffins with them in the morning... Oh yeah, and in this story the Clues won't be mentioned all that much. Just bear with me here.**

The War Hawks

Amy Cahill shuddered in fear as she looked into the malicious eyes of Isabel Kabra. Her gaze was full of bloodlust and bad intent.

"Just hand me the Clue, Amy. Hand it to me, and your brother won't have to die," Isabel said while she pushed Dan dangerously close to the opening of the plane. They had gotten on a plane after finding a Clue in the Appalachian Mountains in the U.S., and apparently, Isabel and her two wicked children had sneaked on with them. Now Amy faced a horrible choice. Give the most vile woman in the world the next step to world domination, or watch as her own flesh and blood was turned into an unrecognizable human pancake.

She looked at the clover in her hand, then at Isabel, then at Dan. He vigorously shook his head "no." Then she made a choice.

"No, Isabel. There's one more door, and I'm taking it," Amy said just as she lunged for her enemy. This caught Isabel off guard, and she accidentally allowed Amy to make a hit. With pure rage, the evil woman lashed out at Amy, setting her off balance, and made a final blow to her stomach.

Amy's eyes grew wide. She felt herself slip. She was falling. Down...down...down. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't scream. She couldn't function. There was no way out this time. _I'm going to die_, she thought. _I'm sorry, Dan. It's all up to you now. You have to win...for me._ She turned to face the rapidly-approaching earth, drawing water from her eyes.

Then suddenly, something hit her on the side, knocking the breath out of her lungs. She stopped falling. The weird thing was, she was actually going _up._ She felt strong arms embrace her body as if to make sure she didn't fall. Hesitantly, almost afraid of what she'd see, she looked up.

Her breath caught in her throat. It was Ian, and he had..._wings._ The coal black feathers shone almost purple in the sun's rays. His wings maintained a slow and steady beat to bring them up to a good flying altitude. His face was strong and full of reserve, looking ever forward. She quickly looked back down.

The ground got a little bit closer every second, and soon enough they were on the ground. The landing was a bit awkward with her in his arms, but they managed not to fall on their faces by making a running landing. As soon as she had come to a stop, she whirled to face him. She opened her mouth but didn't say anything, for she didn't know what could possibly be said. He looked at her, feeling awkward and embarrassed. He had never shown anyone his wings before, not even his parents.

Amy cleared her throat. "You have wings?"

He didn't respond but simply nodded his head.

"For how long?"

"They grew in when I was ten."

The whole idea of people having wings freaked her out, and it took all of her strength not to run away. "Why did you save me?"

His amber eyes flashed up from the ground to look her in the eyes. "We need to talk. It's time."

Amy's jade green eyes gazed at the strange boy before her. Right now she just felt like throwing up.

"So let me get this strait," she said. "I'm a birdkid, too, but I just haven't grown my wings yet, you chose me to be your partner in flying like a flock of two, and the Vespers are looking for all the birdkids of the world so that they can suck their DNA out and do testing on it to improve their race."

"Well actually you left out the part that there's a battle coming up against the Vespers to rid us of our danger forever. Oh, and it's _our_ DNA. You're a part of us, too."

"But how could you possibly have known I'm...a freak of nature?"

"You're not a freak of nature! Neither am I or the rest of our kind. I know because I can sense it."

"How?"

He sighed. "Look there's still so much to explain."

"Well how did you find out about all this?"

His eyes darted to the side. "I...did my research. So do you want to be a part of this or not?"

"Ha! No way, man! Take me to my brother right now!"

"I was afraid of this. Fine. I'll take you back to your brother...but we have to do it my way."

"What? No way. I already know where we were headed. Just walk with me there."

"That'll take forever! No way! It's my way or the highway."

"I am not going up there again! It was horrifying!"

"Fine then, but when you're lost in the middle of nowhere, and no one knows where you are, don't come crying to me," he said as he started to make a running start.

Terrified, Amy didn't know what to do. She made a split second decision. "Wait! Fine! I'll let you pick me up and fly!" she called after him.

With an infuriating smirk, he turned to her. "Glad you see it my way, love."

"Don't call me lo-"

But he had swooped down and carried her thousands of feet in the air, again knocking away her breath. Effortlessly, he glided toward the horizon, but little did Amy know that Ian had no intention of taking her back to Dan. He needed her to be in this. And besides, now that she knew most everything, her wings would start growing in. _Most_ being the key word.

** Sorry if it sucked, guys. But if you click that perty little button down there, you can help me improve it. :) Go on. You know you want to. Just do it already!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Wow, guys. Just...wow. I had a whole, grand-spankin' total of two people review. Thank you for your positive and encouraging words, RageRunsStill and Alex Almighty. It's much appreciated. *yells loud enough so that nonreviewers can hear* Oh yeah, and there was supposed to be a line divider in there somewhere, so if it made no sense at some point, then that's why. I'll try to do better on that one. Yes, this is my first Fanfic. :) I'm glad you think so highly of me, RageRunsStill. :D Again, MUCH APPRECIATED. Now, on with the story. XD**

(this is a temporary line divider...awesome, right?)

Ian glared at the campfire in front of him, wishing it would glow brighter, for sitting in the relative darkness, he was alone. Amy wasn't stupid. She had figured out quickly that he wasn't going to take her back to Dan, so after they had landed, she made a run for it. He had been so startled by her sudden departure and she had had such a great head start that he had lost her easily in the dense foliage of the woods they had landed in.

Now he just sat alone in the chilled night, filled with regret. _I never should've let her get away,_ he thought. _It's all my fault she's gone. I should've had a closer eye on her. How could I have been so stupid? She won't be able to make it out there all alone. _

The thought of Amy possibly dying made him shudder. Suddenly, he felt an independent fit of rage and determination come over him. Why was he sitting around, thinking about the should have's and the if's? He should be out there looking for Amy!

He quickly stood up, filled with strength and resolve. He was going to find her, no matter if it took all night and the next day.

Amy wandered aimlessly around, knowing full well that she was lost. She could barely see anything in front of her, yet she carried resolutely on. She had to get back to her brother, some way...some how. This wasn't a question. She had survive that fall, and now Dan was all alone in the world of the Clue hunt. He had already lost their parents. He didn't need to lose her, too.

She sat down on the cold, hard forest floor, unable to go on. She might not have been wandering around alone for very long, but the day had been very eventful, and she was exhausted. Stiffly, she leaned over her legs to examine the scratches and minor wounds on them.

Suddenly, the bushes behind her rustled, and she jumped to her feet, ready to attack. The tall shrubs made a bit more movement before Ian walked out. Momentarily relieved, she let her guard down, but she put it back up as she remembered how he had tried to trick her into going with him.

"What do _you_ want?" the redhead snarled.

He held his hands up in a humble position. "I just want to talk."

"I've done enough talking with you! I'm tired of your trickery and games!"

"Amy, my love, I'm sorry for tricking you, but I really need you to be a part of this."

"A part of what? Some psychopathic club of mutant freaks? No way, dude!" she screamed, too angry to be mad about his term of endearment.

"Amy! I don't think you fully realize what's at stake here!"

"What, then? What?"

Ian's hard glare turned into a softer gaze. "People's lives, _our_ lives. The fate of the world. If the Vespers get the secret to why we are what we are, then their strength will increase tenfold."

She stared hard at the ground. "What do you expect me to do about that?" she squeaked, suddenly afraid.

"Please, I need you to come with me. I need you to fight by my side, be my partner."

"Why do you need a partner?"

"Well, it's my purpose in life. I'm part of the winged group that we call the guardians. Our purpose is to seek out a partner and protect that person."

"So what's my purpose?"

"You'll find out. The time will come for you to know."

"Why don't you just tell me now instead of going all fortune cookie on me?"

He chuckled quietly. "I'm sorry, but it isn't part of my duty to tell you that sort of thing. It's something that you have to figure out on your own. So will you? Be my partner that is."

She looked at the ground long and hard, her shoes suddenly becoming the next big thing. She sighed deeply. "Fine. I'll do it. But promise me something."

He smiled genuinely, white teeth flashing in the bright moonlight. "Of course, love! Anything."

She looked at him with a fierce vexation. "Do not, by any means, ever, call me love again."

His eyes glowed with sheer amusement. "Of course...Amy."

Moments passed by with them just staring into each other's eyes. His beautiful amber orbs captivated her attention, and she found it hard to look away, her jade green ones glowing like gems in the starlight. Ian resisted the strong urge to brush away a strand of hair that fell in front of her face and instead cleared his throat.

"We should probably make a fire. You must be freezing."

"Oh, um, yeah. Probably."

He quickly conjured up some wood from their surroundings and made a good-sized campfire. They sat next to each other, fairly far apart.

"If I'm supposed to be your partner that you'd give your life to protect, then why did you leave me in Korea?" she asked before she even knew the words had escaped her lips. Her eyes grew wide with a realization of what she just said.

Ian's eyes averted to the ground. "It was my mother's idea. A horrible plan, I know. I should've talked out against it, but I'm ashamed to say I didn't," he said, his amber eyes glowing pure golden in the firelight.

"You're ashamed of it?" she inquire with doubt riddled in her tone.

He nodded with a look of sincerity in his eyes. "Amy, I really am sorry. I swear I'm not lying."

She looked ahead of her still, but something had entered her look at his words...something like...reassurance maybe?

"I forgive you," she said as a slight tremor overtook her body.

Concerned, Ian scooted closer to her and wrapped a warm wing over her back like a huge, feathery blanket. Amy felt a bit awkward but didn't move, for her body had warmed up almost instantly. Instead she leaned on him and put her head on his shoulder to use as a pillow. She was exhausted. _Just like it would've been if he hadn't left me in Korea,_ she thought as she drifted off into a well-deserved sleep.

Ian smiled and softly pecked her forehead. "I'm glad to hear it...love."

**Okay, guys. Please, please review. I worked really hard on this chapter, and it'll kinda aggrivate me a lot if you don't review and tell me how you feel about it. So please? I'll give you a jar of cyber peanut butter. *holds up jar of Peter Pan* I hate to resort to bribery, but I really want reviews. So step right up and click that button, people! Just pretend it's your job. Oh wait. IT IS! :) Love ya. :D**

**~ Sugar **


	3. Chapter 3

**Argh! My line dividers aren't working... l:/ *sigh* Whateves...**

**Sanity Optional: I don't really _want_ a beta all that much... It just sounds too...techy for me. (hiding real excuse that I don't know how) *hands jar of creamy peanut butter* What? You thought I was lying? Oh, yeah. They kinda are OOC. I'll try to work on that, but this is my first fanfic so...yeah.**

**RangeRunsStill: You're welcome. Yeah, me either. That's why I swore I would mention the first couple reviewers who I felt like needed some recognition. Oh, and I only got the winged teenagers idea from Maximum Ride. The two plots are nothing alike, but you should read them. They're awesome. *sniffles* At least until _Fang._**

**Alex Almighty: Creamy. Definitely creamy. I don't do crunchy. It's just too hard to spread on toast and English muffins... . **

**Now on with the story! XD (I hope that divider shows up) *crosses fingers***

Amy was scared. She was just flat out terrified. Dangling a thousand feet up in the air from a boy's arms that she couldn't be sure would keep holding onto her wasn't something she had dreamed about by a long shot.

Suddenly, they started losing altitude. Horrified, she looked up at Ian. His face was strained and sweaty and slightly paler than earlier that morning. She didn't understand. What was wrong with him?

They landed on the ground in a clearing in the woods, this time a bit more gracefully. Ian let go of Amy and hunched over his knees to catch his breath.

"What's wrong? We were only flying for about two hours," she asked, genuinely confused.

He looked over at her. "Yeah, and normally that'd be fine, but with another person's weight to carry, it's kinda hard," he said.

"Oh," she said, feeling stupid. _I knew that! Duh, Amy!_

She scanned her surroundings. Ian had taught her that anything and everything could be the enemy, and they were looking for her. He had told her about how all of the winged teens from all of the Cahill branches had come together this once to protect their secret to form an organization called the War Hawks. There were two divisions to form the War Hawks, the Guardians and the Seraphs. She was a Seraph, and, apparently, according to Ian, they were more important. Hence the fact that they had their own body guards.

She spotted a little river-ish thing placed right in the middle of the forest, and, looking at the pure, crystal clear water, she spontaneously felt grimy and dirty. Ian noticed her steady gaze on the stream and understood her feelings.

"Hey I need to go take a walk in the forest. I, uh, need some time alone," he said. He really didn't, but he knew she did. Amy nodded and beamed at him with her strait, white teeth.

After Ian had gone way beyond her line of vision, she quickly undressed and hopped in the stream. It felt immensely good to wipe away all that dirt that had collected on her skin. She reached toward her back to get all the grime off but stopped short when she felt something odd and unfamiliar. Quickly, she whipped her head around, and there on her back were two underdeveloped, pure white wings. She was officially a freak of nature.

**Hey, guys. Short chappie, I know, but I plan on writing another one later on today. It is Saturday after all, and I really have nothing else better to do... :) Thanks to all the reviewers. Some of them I didn't mention, so thanks, desiree31, bookgirl39, and madrigalspy! :D Love ya! *gives each a peanut butter jar* Now to all of you who read this and didn't review, do it please! I really want to know how you feel about this!**

**~Sugar**


	4. Chapter 4

** *sigh* I got my first bad review today... It really helped me see the other side of the picture, you know? Well thank you, Annie Nonymous. If you're reading this, your constructive criticism was very eye opening. :) I'll take your input to great thought. Yes, Sanity, I have jelly, and if you're wondering what flavor I have all the flavors. ;) Ummm, bookgirl39, I kinda wanna know what kind of interesting you're talking about. Like, good interesting or bad interesting?**

** I've noticed that I've forgotten to do a disclaimer at the beginning of the story, so here goes.**

**Disclaimer: SugarQueen8490 does not own the 39 Clues or the idea of winged children. (you now know what to get me for my birthday...June 17, people)**

_(does anyone know how to do line dividers? tell me please!)_

"It's okay. It's okay. Just calm down, Amy," Ian desperately prodded.

"I have wings! Oh my word I have wings!" she exclaimed as she paced, running her thin fingers through her hair.

After she had found the wings on her back, she had calmly gotten out of the stream and gotten dressed. After that she had freaked out, hair pulling, pacing, screaming at Ian, the whole nine yards. She wasn't usually one to freak out, but this was different. She had wings growing on her back. _Wings._

"Amy, that's completely normal. You're supposed to have wings."

Somehow his smooth British accent calmed her nerves like Riddelin to a person with ADD. She stopped and inhaled deeply.

"How long 'til they're fully developed?"

"Hmmm. At the rate that they're already developing, I'd say about a day."

"What! A day! I'm gonna be a full-out freak in a day!"

"You're not a freak! Stop saying that!"

"Why am I like this?" she whispered.

"Well that serum that Gideon gave his children had more of an effect than the branch characteristics. If the blood is close enough to the first, then we grow wings. Sometimes there can be siblings that have wings and some that don't. It's just the way it works."

"But Madeline didn't drink the serum."

He shook his head. "She got the _whole_ serum. Olivia wanted her to be well equipped for the dangerous world outside of the little island they lived on. That's why you're so important, Amy. Of all the Seraphs out there you are the most..._special_ because your branch founder got the whole serum."

She sat down and put her head in her hands. "Great. What next?" Ian sighed, knowing how stressful it must be to have all of this shoved in her face.

Amy's stomach spontaneously rumbled. "Uh, are you hungry?"

She just looked at him. "Right. Stupid question," he said.

He tossed her a protein bar from his pocket. "Eat this. I'll be back in a minute."

Ian launched himself thirty feet in the air from a standstill. Amy smiled. His feats would never cease to amaze her. She opened the bar's wrapper and took a ravenous bite, but before she had even swallowed, Ian landed in front of her with something in his hand.

"Uh, what do you have there?" she asked after she had swallowed.

"Oh, um... I kind of killed a couple birds."

The redhead's eyes grew wide. The thought sickened her a bit. She had seen people kill animals and eat them only hours after, but that was only on survivor shows. This was real life, and it repulsed her.

"Well, it's not that bad if you get over the whole it-used-to-be-living fact."

She sighed. "Well okay. If you say so."

_(don't you guys just love my line breakers?)_

She was so warm. Well, at least one side of her was warm. The other side felt a draft because it wasn't leaning against Ian. From her position on her back, she looked at him. His face was placid with slumber, and his lips were slightly parted, murmuring incoherent things about his dreams. Amy thought it was...cute. But it's not like she'd admit that anytime soon.

She lay there in silent bliss for a while. Suddenly, she felt cold, rough hands grasp her body. She tried to scream, but they covered her mouth as well. Ian, being the heavy sleeper he is, didn't wake from his dreams to rescue her.

The wicked men easily overpowered her, and as she was dragged further and further away from her guardian, all she could do was watch and think._ Ian, please, please wake up! (and yet another awesome line divider)_

**Wow two chapters in one day! :D Feels good. Sorry I didn't get it up sooner. I was at the movies. I saw I Am Number Four. It was pretty good, but I'm not gonna spoil you with my criticism. Oh yeah. The whole dead bird idea came to me because I'm eating ribs right now... (don't worry. no keyboards were covered in barbecue sauce in the making of this chappie) Hmmm... *reads through notes* Ah yes! For those of you who are ADD or know someone who is, I'm not trying to insult you or anything. It was just the first metaphor that popped into my head. :) R & R please! :D I want to know what you think of this story! Just click the button and type! It's not that hard, people!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey, hey! Thank you guys all for those of you who reviewed and/or favorited my story. :D *cough cough* And to those of you who have read this and aren't reviewing, SERIOUSLY! PLEASE TELL ME HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT MY STORY! Thanks for reading it, but I want to come away from this experience with a better knowledge of writing. And it's only when you review and critique my writing do I get any better than before. Oh, and bookgirl39, all the Seraphs' wings are white, and all the Guardians' wings are black. It's just the way I had it planned...**

**Now on with chappie 5! (I don't own the 39 Clues. just any OC's that I may have invented)**

~L~

Ian awoke the next morning to the sun shining in his eyes. He sat up and ran his fingers through his coal black hair, suddenly noticing something amiss.

"Hey, Amy, does anything seem weird to you?" he asked the silence. He waited a bit for a response...nothing.

"Amy?"

Silence still mocked him.

He jumped to his feet and did a 360 on his surroundings. Trees, trees, trees! Only trees! Where was Amy! The absence of his companion snapped his senses back to their full ability, chasing away any sleepiness that had once been there.

He looked at the ground for any footprints, in case she had just wandered off to find firewood for breakfast or something. There were footprints, but they were far too large to be Amy's. They led into the campsite right to where they had been lying. Then the ground showed signs of a struggle. Amy had tried to fight them...alone. He had been asleep, too busy with his dreams to even be woken up.

Tears of frustration at himself sprung up behind his eyes. He had let this happen. She was gone..._again_. He needed to get her back..._again_.

~L~

Amy was bound, there was nowhere to go. She was surrounded by her capturers' friends. They were talking and eating and having a good time with each other, and here she was, watching them with longing, hungry eyes. This was going to be a long day...long indeed.

She tested the ropes that kept her hands bound behind her back and the ones that held her feet together. Hopelessly tight. _Great,_ she thought. _Now not only am I trapped, but if Ian ever does find me, I'm going to have no use of my hands or feet because these stupid ropes are cutting off my circulation! _She greatly resented the gag on her mouth.

Amy looked around her for a chance of a way out...nothing. Wonderful. She saw something in the distance. It looked like some of the far-off trees were swaying violently side to side. It looked like a giant, invisible ball was rolling through the middle of the forest. The "ball" got closer and closer to their campsite, and she was afraid that whatever it was would crush them. She struggled in her bindings, injuring her new wings, and it hurt...badly.

The "ball" got closer and closer and closer. Suddenly, it just...stopped. The trees rocked back and forth a bit, but only because of what had once been there. _What was that? What just happened?_

Just then a guard that had been sitting around the fire was yanked off of his seat and dragged into the surrounding wood foliage, screaming. Frightened the other guards jumped to their feet and grabbed their knives and guns.

"Who's there!" the apparent leader demanded.

"It depends on where 'there' is," came a low, demonic voice from the trees. It seemed like it was coming from everywhere. This only scared the men even more. They scattered around like disturbed ants, trying to terminate the attacker but too afraid to enter the shrubbery. If Amy hadn't been scared for her own life, she would've had a good laugh about this, for they looked positively ridiculous.

More and more soldiers kept disappearing into the forest until just one was left. The terrified leader of the little pack of soldiers spun around franticly in search of the unseen exterminators. Amy closed her eyes, unable to watch the killings anymore. She heard the man scream, then silence ensued.

She waited, expecting to be next, but instead she felt caring hands cutting her bindings and setting her free. She opened her eyes to see her guardian offering her a hand to help her up. Suddenly angry, she smacked it away and got up by herself. Once on her feet, she slapped him in the face.

"Oh what? You now have time for chivalry, but you couldn't even wake up to save me! What kind of crap is that!" she screamed.

Ian looked at her with regret-filled eyes. He looked like someone had just killed his new puppy.

"I know," was all he said.

Amy felt ashamed of herself then. How could she be mad at him? He had just saved her after all. She wrapped her arms around him and held him close. Even after two days stuck out in the woods, he still smelled like clovers. He hugged her back after stiffening a bit in shock.

"But I'm so glad you came to save me," she whispered. They pulled back from each other, and she beamed at him. His lips curled upward in a pleasant grin.

She glanced toward the outside of the clearing where the men had disappeared. "Uh, Ian."

"Yes?"

"You didn't, um, _ kill _those guys...did you?"

"Oh, heavens no! What do you take me for? A barbarian?" he said with a comical twinkle in his eyes.

She smiled. "Good. Hey, I how did you make it sound like there were a hundred of you?"

"That was for self defense. It gave them the thought that there were many of me when there was only one, so I had the advantage of confidence."

"Um, yeah, great, but that doesn't answer my question."

He grinned mischievously. "That's because it's a little secret of mine."

"What?"

"That means it's for _me_ to know and for _you_ to never find out."

"Ian, just tell me!"

"Nope. Come on. We have to get going. It's almost noon."

"Where are we going anyway?"

"Huh. Yeah I guess I never mentioned that, did I? Well, we're going to find the main base of the War Hawks. There, we'll get clothing, food, training, shelter, and all that jazz."

"Wait, what did you say we'd be getting?"

"Clothing, food, shelter..." his voice trailed off.

"No. In between food and shelter."

"Oh, haha. Yeah. Training?" he chuckled nervously.

"Training for what?"

"Amy, we need to get going. Let's talk about this later."

"No! I need to know. This involves me."

He sighed. "Wow it's going to be very entertaining when you get your own wings and don't have to depend on me," he mumbled.

"What did you say?"

"Oh, nothing," he said sweetly as he took off from a run.

"Ian!" she screamed as he swooped down and scooped her up in his capable arms. "I'm still no used to this!"

He laughed loudly, trembling with mirth. "You'll get used to it, love. Trust me!"

~L~

** Guys, I worked really, really hard on this chapter. Like, this is a really long one for me. Usually on Open Office, my chappies are about one and a half pages, but this one was _two_ and a half. So please, please review. I have a traffic reading, so don't think that I don't know you're on here. I love all of you guys! :D**

**~Sugar**


	6. My Turn To Be You

**I'm back! Mwahahaha! :D Now responses to reviews XD**

**MagicCahill: Haha. I wasn't meaning to sound threatening. It just aggravates me so much when people read the chapters that I worked so hard on and don't tell me their feelings for them. (Seriously, guys. I don't care if you only write three stinking words. Just review!) Well, I guess the chapter wasn't really all that long, but it just felt like it was really long because of all the time it took me to write it. I'm busy all the time with a bunch of stuff, so I can't really stay on one subject for long. Therefor, when it takes two hours to do something, it feels super, duper long. Or maybe that's just me being ADD... I don't know... :)**

**Alex Almighty: Thank you. :) You're one of the people on here that I admire the most because of your amazing talent, so it's a huge complement to me when you say that. :D**

**RageRunsStill: Haha! Yeah, don't worry about it! :) It happens sometimes to me, too. I got the word Seraphs from the Bible. It's a shortened version of the word Seraphim. They're a type of angel in the Bible. The fly around God's throne, singing of His glory, and they have six wings. One pair to fly, one pair to cover the eyes, and one pair to cover the feet. Hope that nullified your curiosity! :)**

**bookgirl39: Yes, he's not supposed to call her that, but a.) It's Ian. He doesn't really do well when it comes to following the instructions of others, and b.) Amy was kind of too terrified out of her wits to even think about it, much less do anything about it...**

**desiree31: Yeppers. My thoughts exactly. :)**

**Now on with the story! :D (I don't own the 39 Clues)**

_~L~_

Strange. The only word that Amy could describe Ian with at the moment was _strange_. He was looking at her...but it wasn't an ordinary look. He was gazing so intently at her that she was sure she'd be burned through with holes if he ever decided to stop. She looked back at him, feeling a bit awkward.

"Uh, is everything okay, Ian?" she asked, seriously concerned, for he had carried her in the air yesterday for an amazing amount of time to save the daylight they had lost in that little fiasco with Amy getting captured.

"Come here," he said, the strange look still on his face. She followed his orders. He reached his arms around her as if to hug her, but instead, he pulled out her wings, unfolding them to their full span. He gently stroked the snowy feathers with careful hands as if her plumage were made of the finest china and would break if even the wind disturbed them.

"How long has it been?" he asked with a different look on his face, still staring at her wings.

"Since what?"

"Since you fell out of that plane coming back from the Appalachians?"

"Oh, um, I don't know, about three days, I think. Why?"

He grinned. It was almost evilly, but it had some humor hidden in it. He looked at her with eyes full of promise, but what scared Amy was that it promised her that fear would be in her near future. She was positively puzzled...then it hit her._ Oh, crap,_ she thought.

"I'm going to learn how to fly, am I not?" she asked, fear etched in her tone.

Ian just smiled and held out a hand. Hesitantly, she took it, but instead of him walking her civilly through the woods to find a nice take-off spot, he suddenly took off, dragging her through the air in the process. She screamed.

"I hate this!" she cried. "Will you quit doing this please!"

Ian smiled and laughed. "It's just too much fun, lo- Amy. I only have a couple more times to do this until you can fly on your own."

"And I impatiently await the time!"

He grinned and flew higher and higher and higher until they were gliding above the clouds. It was so silent up here...peaceful. He suspended her below him at arm's length, and she thoroughly enjoyed it. She spread her arms out as if she were flying on her own. She flexed her fingers and felt the pleasant wind flow through her auburn hair, blowing it back from her face. They coasted around each of the puffy altocumulus clouds, letting the small wind currents take them further and further away from their troubles.

"Open your wings," he gently commanded her. She did as she was told.

"Good. Now steady your wings. Collect yourself. When you fly through wind currents, even strong ones, you need to tip slightly forward to make sure that you don't just keep traveling up and up."

Amy adjusted her wings to a comfortable position. She felt the cool wind rustle between her feathers, separating them after being held together for so long.

"You're doing great. Now I'm going to let you go, bu-"

"What! No! What if I fall? What if-"

"I was just about to say that I'm going to be flying directly above you to make sure nothing goes wrong."

Relieved, she nodded, and he let his grip on her torso slip a little...then a bit more...then she was gliding independently. Ian looked down at her. He observed the way her pure white wings would flap a bit out of instinct or the way her facial expression would rise to panic when she started falling just slightly, then smiling again when she got the hang of something new. He smiled despite himself. She was just so...so...

"Lovely," he whispered, remembering Korea. He smiled at the good memory, then frowned when he recalled the cave. _The _cave. He could've stopped it. He could've gone back to get her, to make sure she was okay. He could've defied his mother and terminated the madness. So...why didn't he?

"Ian," Amy called with a joyed smile, snapping him out of his reverie. "Look at what I learned in the first five minutes of flight."

The Lucian looked at her with an interested expression, and Amy, taking that as her cue, flew in a wide, upside down loop, then banked sharply to the left. It was pretty much the most graceful and naturally beautiful thing Ian had seen. _Ever_. She beamed up at him with happiness a constant companion in her jade green eyes.

"There's nothing better, is there?" he asked with a smirk. She shook her head.

"Hey, watch this," Ian said as he dove down to the cloudy flooring. Right as he reached it, though, he turned quickly to the right and soared past Amy. He then pointed his right wing at the ground and flapped his left one as hard as he could. He looked like an actual bird as he sailed past her once again. He then slowed down and came back up to where his charge was hovering. Her eyes were wide with admiration.

"That was amazing!" she exclaimed.

He grinned. It was then that Amy noticed something...something she hadn't before.

"Ian, do you...do you have..._dimples_?"

His face became slightly pink with embarrassment, but he answered her anyway. "Yeah."

"Well, I've never noticed them before..."

"Yeah, well, I haven't smiled this much in a long time, nor have I seen anyone else smile as much as you have these past days," he said, mischief obvious in his eyes.

She grinned and turned a shade of red as well. "Yeah, well..." her voice trailed off.

He smirked. "That was a _great_ comeback, Amy," he said with sarcasm dripping from his tone.

She rolled her eyes and looked at the ground, for they had started flying again and the scene below was beginning to change.

"Wow. I can see really well from up here," she mused.

"Yeah. I've noticed that, too."

She went on admiring the scenery until, after a while, she gasped. "What? What is it?" Ian inquired.

"I-I see m-men down th-there. I-Ian, they have g-g-guns," she replied, her anxiety making her stutter.

Concerned, he looked to where she was pointing. It was true. There were about twenty men on the ground, soldiers hunting for them. "Oh, no," he said. "This isn't good. They might sh-"

But Ian never finished that sentence because he had been cut off. Amy saw tiny droplets of blood flying past her through the air, and she saw Ian's steady wing beat suddenly become irregular and erratic. He lost altitude...fast.

Ian saw the ground rushing up at him at a deadly quick pace. _Crap, crap, crap, _he thought. _I can't die here. I just need to calm down. My wings. Open them up more, they're trying to collapse. Shoulders. Bring them back so as to make my wings shift to slow down my momentum. Crud! I'm still falling way too fast! I'm going to crash! I'm going to die!_

Amy watched in horror as Ian approached the ground. Her jaw hardened. She couldn't just hover here and watch. It was _her_ turn to keep _him_ from dying. She dove down toward him and hooked her arms under his. She then flapped upward as hard and fast as she could. He was just so heavy. His force dragged her down so much. Now they were both falling. Down...down...down. The lining of the trees came up at her with a sickening speed, and before she knew it, she was falling through the dense forest. A giant limb smacked her in the face, causing her to drop Ian. She plopped straight on the ground with a painful thud.

She looked around...no Ian. "Ian?" she called weakly.

No response greeted her. "Ian? Ian!" she yelled, now frantic. She jumped to her feet and did a 360. Then she spotted him. He had hit a branch on his way down. He now lay in an awkward position on the branch face up.

Amy quickly fluttered up to where he was lying. She grabbed a hold of his body and half flew, half fell to the ground. She shook him hard.

"Ian? Ian are you okay? Please be okay!"

His face was pale and gaunt, and he made no move to respond. His eyes were open, but he seemed unable to speak because an intense amount of pain.

"What hurts the most?"

He didn't speak, but he simply put a hand to his chest where a giant stain of blood was appearing on his shirt. She ripped it off to see exactly what was wrong. Then she saw it. On the right side of Ian's chest was a huge, gaping wound. He had been shot.

~_L~_

**Ooooooo. Ian's been shot! *gasp* What happens next? Haha! Like I'd give it away! :D *grins evilly* Okay, guys. I'm getting really frustrated with you for not reviewing! :( (not the five of you who reveiwed last time :D) Which is why I've decided not to update until I get at least seven reveiws. _Seven_. I worked really hard on this chapter, too, so I want your honest opinion on it, please. It would be much appreciated and kind of _required_ if you guys ever want me to update again. So review! :D**

**~Sugar**


	7. Help

**Wow! Thank you guys so much for finally reviewing! :D For this chappie, I'll only respond to the reviews that I feel like need some responding, so if you don't get a response or something don't think that I'm disregarding you, I just got so many reviews this time around. :) So I'm mostly going to respond to anonymous reviewers because I can't just PM them later...**

**Infinity:Haha. Yes, I've read Maximum Ride. It's actually where I got the inspiration for this story. Even though the two plots are nothing alike, I got the whole winged kid idea from James Patterson.**

**athena: Yeah. Now that I really think about it, it is kind of weird... Thanks for pointing that out for me. :)**

**Lollipop8899: Well, thank you so, so much for faithfully reading my stories and for finally reviewing! :D **

**Now on with the story! XD (Oh, yes. I've decided to start labeling my chapters now...so...yah)**

_~L~_

Blood. There was so much blood everywhere, all around that Amy couldn't stand it. She looked down at Ian's bullet wound, her mind going blank. What was she supposed to do?

_Pressure,_ she thought. _I need to put pressure on the wound to stop the bleeding._

She ripped a piece of cloth from her guardian's shirt and applied it heavily to the hole in his chest. It did nothing. The blood kept gushing, Ian's face getting paler with every agonizing minute that ticked by. Amy wasn't one to panic in dire situations such as these, but as of right now, she was officially having a myocardial infarction.

"Ian! Ian, I d-d-don't know what to do! I-I need you here with me! Please don't die! Please! At least just tell me what to do!" she sobbed. Amy couldn't believe what had just escaped her lips. She had never been all for admitting she needed help, either. Much less for a guy that only days before she had despised with her whole heart. But it was true...all of what she had said, and she needed help.

"The camp," he croaked. "Reach the main base camp. You'll find safety there."

"You're talking about it like you're not going with me."

He nodded. "Leave me. I'll just slow you down."

"No! That is _not_ happening! You _are_ coming with me! No matter the cost!" she said, fiery determination entering her usually calm tone.

"Amy. Those soldiers were only a mile away from here the last time we saw them. They must've traveled at least a quarter of that distance by now. You need to leave and reach safety."

"Quit trying to be the hero! You don't need to be brave all the time! You can be scared. You can be afraid of dying, too!" she screamed, exasperated.

He chuckled and gave a weak smile. "It's my duty. Fear isn't in my job description, but keeping you safe _is_. So go now! Go!" he commanded before he fell unconscious.

She bit her tongue to keep the nasty comments to remain inside her head. It wouldn't help anything. After all, he was out cold. Instead she just shouldered Ian and ran through the woods as fast as she could. Before long, though, she got incredibly tired because of the dead weight she had to carry and walked. _Geez! What does this guy eat?, _she mused to herself. She set her friend down gently on the ground for a short break and hunched over her knees. She seriously had to talk to the camp owners about a relocation to somewhere not so far away.

Suddenly, she stood straight up and stayed stock still. **(A/N: I never intentioned this to turn out as a funny alliteration sentence, but that's just how it came out...) **Was she going crazy, or had she really heard what she thought she had? She listened even more intently, and it came again. Shouting. Men shouting in the distance.

_That's not right. They shouldn't have gained on us so quickly! Crud! They'll be on top of us in no time!_ she thought franticly.

She could now see a few scouts appear over a hill that wasn't too far from her and Ian. She pulled him into the bushes, hoping not to be seen, but the attempt had been futile. They were spotted. All of the soldiers in the group came charging up the hill, and Amy didn't think they had any intention of greeting them very kindly at all. She didn't know what to do. She couldn't just fly away and leave Ian there, and if she tried flying away with him in her arms, she would have to touch down soon after anyway. Running away was out of the question. The only option she saw was to stand and fight. She was tired of running anyway. It was about time to make a stand.

She faced her attackers, taking on a defensive position. She was ready to meet them. She felt the adrenaline pumping like fire within her veins, and as the first of men came at her, she knew exactly what to do. She foresaw every move he made and countered them easily, and soon enough, he lay on the ground, unconscious. As more and more of them came at a time, she found it difficult to defeat them. They surrounded her and tried to attack her all at once, but she made a flying leap over their heads and evaded them. Then, finding a strength withing her being that she never knew she had, she heaved two of the guys into all the rest, leaving a tangled mass of confused soldiers on the ground. That was all the opportunity she needed.

She hefted Ian on her shoulders and made a running leap into the air. She only made it about half a mile, though, before her bruised and battered body had to touch down to solid ground. She made an uncoordinated lading in a clearing in the forest and collapsed on the ground beside her guardian.

Amy didn't know how long she just lay there in silence before she heard a noise like the rustling of leaves in the woods. She tried to heave herself to her feet, but her attempts were in vain. She was spent. She felt kind and comforting hands stroke her hair and pick her up their arms. She heard the faint murmurs of civilized people somewhere far off in the distance of her mind, but she couldn't register anything. She opened her eyes just slightly to see a flash of feathers and the ground getting farther and farther away. She turned her glazed eyes toward Ian. He was still alive. With relief flooding through her, she let the darkness of her exhaustion take over, and everything went black.

_ ~L~_

**Yeah, yeah. I know. It was a bit short, but, hey, really you're lucky you got this much from me. I'm supposed to be packing right now. Which reminds me. I'm going on vacation tomorrow, so this is the last update that you'll get from me for ten days. It's a long time, I know. :'( I is sowwy!**

**Thank you guys who reviewed last time! :D I love ya! Okay, guys. I know I'm going on vacation, but if I come back and I find that ten new people haven't reviewed, I won't update. _Ten_. So if you ever want to hear from me again, it had to be ten! (wow that rhymed...) :) I'll update as soon as I can! (as long as there's ten!)**

**~Sugar :)**


	8. The Camp Part I

**Omg! I've been gone for sooooooooo long! :O I'm so so sorry! I feel guilty. And my guilt has lead to me making a couple announcements. But! Some of the announcements really have nothing to do with my guilt... I just felt like it was a good time to make them...**

**~ As I said above I feel really guilty for being gone for so long, so I'm going to be doing an extra **

** long chapter for chappie 8. :3 Yayz! But there's a catch. Since it's really late right now I'll have to separate chappie 8 into two sections. Please forgive me, but my mom's being unreasonable... . **

**~ How depressing. Only five people reviewed... :'( That makes me sad. I now see that I can't threaten you into reviewing, so I'm going back to just urgently imploring...**

**~ In my absence, I wrote a couple short stories to make up for it...hopefully. I will be posting these drabbles over a span of a couple of days. One a day until they are all gone. "Why are you spreading them out?" you ask. It's to make sure I don't smother you with stories. And I don't really have the time to write all of them out today or any day really. Just one along with the next chappie of The War Hawks. (actual reason)**

**~ I want to thank all of the reviewers of my story/stories. It really means a lot to me when you review. Even if it's only three words. Therefor to show my thanks I'm going to dedicate a short story to the first three people who contact me telling me they want one. You are only eligible if you have reviewed either Bring Me To Life or The War Hawks at least one time. Don't try to fool me. I'll know if you're eligible or not. You're allowed to tell me what you want the story to be about and who you want the characters to be or you can let my imagination do all the work. I'm happy with both just as long as you know how much I appreciate you guys! :D So just PM me or tell me in a review if you want it. First three. :)**

**~ I have just realized that I'm making way too many announcements, and therefor continue with this story. xD**

_~L~_

Amy woke in a white tent on a cot. Her head throbbed like she'd been kicked by a horse. She tried to sit up, but a pain in her chest prevented her.

"Careful there. I wouldn't try sitting up in a while if I were you," a voice from beside her cot said. She identified it to be female.

"Who...who are you?" she croaked. It felt like she hadn't used her voice in a very long time.

The girl chuckled. "I'm the girl who saved your guardian's butt, that's who."

Amy looked up to her left and saw the girl hovering over her with a clipboard at her side. Her long hair was braided over her shoulder with a red ribbon tied at the end. Her blonde locks were streaked with natural brown and firetruck red highlights. Her eyes looked intently at me with concern, amusement, and relief all mixed together. They were constantly changing color as if indecisive as to be either blue or green. They reminded Amy of the ocean, wild and uncontrollable. Her thin frame sported a black shirt with a dark red cami underneath and jean shorts. A pair of pure white wings rested half covered by her back. She looked to be about thirteen or fourteen years old. Through the fuzz in Amy's brain, she could just make out a necklace on her. It looked like half of a heart had been broken off of its other long lost half. The girl's eyes narrowed as she noticed Amy looking at her necklace and tucked it beneath her shirt, her smile fading.

"Ian? Where is he?" she asked urgently.

The girl's smile came back as quickly as it had left. "Oh, he's in the next tent. The one for guardians only. He's fine, though, and you can go see him when I check you out of here."

Amy nodded, reassured that he was safe. "You saved his life?"

The blonde nodded. "I'm the head of the medic facility. My name's Julianna Renee Anderson, but just call me Julia please."

"I'm Amy. Can you tell me what happened?"

"Yeah. Some of our hunters were out and saw you take on those soldiers and then flying away. They followed you and saw how beat up you were, so they brought you back to camp with them and straight to me. Ian had some serious issues, but I think he's fine now. You were okay, just a bit exhausted and beat up. The hunters say you got a good kick to the gut. Never good. Sometimes internal bleeding, but you turned out okay. Just a bit sore."

"What did you have to do to Ian?"

"Oh, the norm for bullet wound victims. Surgery, blood transfusions, and a whole lot of praying," Julia said nonchalantly as if it were no big deal.

"Well, thank you."

Julianna just shrugged. "So," Amy started. "How did someone like _you_ become the head of the medic facility?"

The blonde's face turned red. She hadn't meant to, but Amy had made that question sound like Julia was an inept little child. With the red rebel streaks in her hair and the heavy makeup around her eyes, her face looked almost evil when she was angry. Amy half expected the medic to slap her, but she just grinned crookedly.

"Well, aren't we a bit curious," Julianna said a bit too coolly as she leaned over Amy for emphasis. "Sometimes it's not exactly _what_ you know but _who_ you know. Now, lucky for you and your friend over there, it's both for me. Any more questions? Yeah, I didn't think so."

With that Julia straightened and looked down at Amy with cold blueish-green eyes. "I need to do a checkup to see if you're allowed to leave," she said tightly.

She briskly checked Amy's blood pressure, pulse, respiration, and shined light in her eyes to check for further concussions. The young medic pressed down on the redhead's abdomen to check for swelling or inflammation-signs of internal bleeding. She then checked some things off of her clipboard and looked at me with a forced smile.

"You're allowed to leave my medical care," she said, and, with that, she stalked out of the tent.

Amy sighed, half in relief and half in exasperation. She was relieved because she oculd leave the medical facility and go see Ian, but the other half of her was a bit scared. She didn't know a whole lot about Julianna Anderson, but she had a feeling that she wasn't one you wanted for an enemy.

Slowly, Amy crawled off of the cot and realized that she was in fresh clothes for the first time in the past three days. She was wearing a regular white linen V-necked shirt and white linen pants. It felt nice to be in clean clothes again. _Focus, Amy. Focus,_ she silently scolded herself. _Ian. Find Ian._

She stepped outside into the sunlight and a burst of fresh air greeted her instantly. She breathed in the smell of grass and flowers and felt the dirt beneath her feet and in between her toes. It had been a while since she had been able to enjoy the little things like that...a _long_ while. But she had to focus. She had to find her guardian. She looked around the camp. It was huge with thousands of mutants hustling and bustling throughout the camp. She saw that there were four sections to the ginormous camp. The north section was colored all in red, the east was green, the south was blue, and the west was yellow. Lucian, Janus, Tomas, and Ekaterina-four branches of the Cahills. But where were the Madrigals? Surely they were here.

Amy didn't have time to think about such matters, though, so she just scanned the camp harder. There on the other side of the camp from where the Seraphs' medic tent stood was a pure black tent. Somehow she knew that that's where Ian would be.

_~L~_

**Yeah I know. It's kind of boring an uneventful, but believe me, I have big plans for this chapter in the next installment. Just bear with me here and you will be rewarded. Julianna Anderson is based off of a real person, and so are her friends which are to come in the future section/sections. Well, goodbye for now. :)**

**~Sugar**


	9. The Camp Part II

**Haha. Yes. Welcome to the world of filler! Mwahahahahahaha! :D (silence) Readers: ! Sorry about the last chappie being boring and stuff... . I was really tired and groggy, and I'm surprised I spelled most of those words right. I was a sad sight, ladies and gentleman. :/**

**HopeRising11: Will do! :) HopeRising11, you are the first one to ask for a Drabble of Dedication. Your drabble will be posted along with this chapter, but it'll take longer to load since it's a whole new story, and those can take hours...**

**JanusGirl101: Yeah, kind of, but I think you should know that she's not really like this in real life. She looks like Julianna and has mood swings like she does, but she's usually more outgoing and pleasant. The character will get better. Don't worry. :)**

**Alex Almighty: Uh, thank you? Your review was really hard to decipher, and I had to look it over a couple times, but I...think it was a complement, right? ',:)**

**Now on with the story! :D (I don't own The 39 Clues. If I did, Kurt would've been eaten by a pack of ravenous wolves. He gets way on my nerves. :l )**

_~L~_

Amy opened the black tent flap to find the medic tent packed full of guardians. Some of them were bandaged and bruised with their Seraphs sitting by their sides, but what disturbed her was that most of them were bandaged and bruised but no one visited them. The occasional nurse would come around, but most of the time they were completely alone. She scanned the room for Ian and finally found him in the far left corner. He was sitting up on his cot with his feet on the floor. He looked strong and healthy and full of life, the only sign of his injury being a white bandage covering his torso. His eyes sparkled with joy when he spotted Amy. He got fully to his feet and strolled casually over to her as if nothing had ever happened. He stopped in front of her and paused, unsure of what to do next. Amy hugged him tightly. She felt Ian stiffen with surprise and then relax and hug her back. They broke apart after a moment and walked out of the tent together.

"So I see you're okay," Amy said, hoping to chase away the lingering awkwardness from hugging.

"Yeah. Julianna worked her magic again. She's the head of the med-"

"I know," she interrupted. "We met."

The edge in her voice must've been as obvious as Dan trying to be a ninja while sneaking chocolate chip cookies out of the kitchen because Ian cracked a smile. "Ah. I see you got on her bad side."

Amy let out a quick chuckle of exasperation. "I didn't know she had a _good_ side."

"You'll learn to like her."

"You've met her before?"

"Yeah. She and I go back a way. We met when she tried to kill me in my sleep. She was sent as an Ekat assassin to, you know, _assassinate_ me."

"Oh, so she's an Ekat."

Ian inhaled sharply through his teeth. "Not exactly."

Amy raised an eyebrow, so Ian continued his train of thought. "Her dad's an Ekat. Her mom is half Lucian, half Janus. She has a complicated bloodline."

"Ha. No doubt," Amy agreed. A comfortable silence ensued their conversation as they walked through the crowd. They were headed toward the center of the camp where people from different branches were congregating. Ian led her to a small circle of people who were talking in the midst of the hustle and bustle. Julianna was there with her back turned to Amy. She was chatting and laughing with her friends. A brunette, the only other girl in the group, started poking the young medic in the stomach, and Amy thought the rebel girl would punch her to the ground, but it only made her laugh even harder than she already was. A tall guardian with sandy blonde hair and greyish eyes put a hand on her back, trying to get her to calm down and breathe. The last person in the group, a platinum blonde guardian, turned loving blue eyes toward the brunette and took her hands in his for the mercy of the other girl.

As Amy and Ian got closer, they could hear the conversation that the group was having.

"I can't breathe!" Julianna cried between gasps.

"Deep breath, Juju. Deep breath," the brunette girl instructed. The blonde girl looked over at her.

"Yeah, easier said than done."

"Ah, touche."

Then Julianna's friend spotted us with her large brown eyes. "Ian!" she called in happiness. "You're out of bed. It's about time! Oh, and you brought your friend."

Julianna spun around and glared at Amy with an icy stare. She glanced back at her friend and opened her mouth to say something, but the redhead beat her to it.

"I'm sorry if I insulted you. I didn't mean to make my question sound so harsh."

The rebel smiled crookedly. "I was just about to apologize for overreacting. It wasn't the way you said it. It was the question in itself. It just brought up too many bad memories, but then again I suppose everything does these days," she said, her voice trailing off near the end of the statement. Amy didn't ask what she meant by that. She figured it was something Julianna didn't want her knowing.

She stepped aside so that Amy could see her three friends clearly. "Amy, this is Abbigale," she said as she gestured to the brunette. "You can call her Abbi if you want."

She pointed to the tall sandy blonde guardian. "This is Austin. -she gestured to the platinum blonde boy- This is Drew. He's Abbigale's guardian, and Austin's mine. Guys, this is Amy."

They all nodded and smiled at her. "Abbigale is a Janus, Austin's an Ekat, and Drew's also a Janus. As for me, well, let's just say it's undetermined."

Amy nodded, understanding how it felt to not know who you were or what you were supposed to be. "I'm a-"

"Lucian," Ian interrupted. "She's a Lucian."

Julianna nodded in approval. "That's cool." The medic glanced at her red wristwatch. "Whoa! Look at the time. I need to get back to work. Guardians may heal fast but it does tend to help if you keep them alive first." With that, the girl turned on her heel and strolled toward the large black tent at the corner of the camp.

"Ian, why did you-"

"Run you over in that school in Toronto? Sorry. I needed to get to the enchiladas. It _was_ Mexican day, after all. It's my favorite day."

"What the heck are you-"

"Oh, you're right we've never even been to Canada. I think it was Las Vegas then. I'm always getting the two confused."

Ian was making absolutely no sense at all, and Amy was thoroughly confused. Enchiladas? Las Vegas? What the crud muffins? His actions were so completely unlike him that she almost slapped him and asked what he had done with the real Ian Kabra. The Lucian took a hold of her hand.

"I think we should take a walk in the forest now."

His behavior was very strange, but Abbigale, Austin, and Drew regarded him as if it were normal for people to have sudden personality swings. "Don't cross the border," Abbigale warned as they left.

Once they were out of earshot Amy turned toward her amber-eyed guardian. "What the heck?"

"Sorry. That was a little weird, but-"

"More than just a little! I almost took you down for trying to impersonate Ian Kabra. Why did you tell them I was a Lucian?"

He gestured toward the woods. "Come on. I need to show you something."

They walked through the dense foliage in silence. Ian looked straight ahead, sure of where he was going. Amy had gotten hopelessly lost after the first few feet. The trees were placed close together and all of them looked exactly the same. It seemed like they had walked for forever when Amy suddenly tripped over something big and hard that had been covered by the lingering leaves. Ian caught her before she hit the ground. "It's closer than I remember," he mumbled under his breath.

"What? What are you talking about? What did I just trip on?"

He bent down and cleared the leaves off of a big rock. It was then that Amy noticed that it wasn't at all an ordinary rock in the middle of the woods. There were words engraved on it, and something sparkled on it in the sunlight.

"What is it?" Amy asked.

Ian stayed silent for a while. "Read it," he said at last.

Amy bent down and did as she was told. Carved into the stone were weathered words that almost hurt her eyes to try to read, but she could just make it out:

_From far away cities we came to stay, _

_knowing not the price we'd pay._

_A Guardian angel took a knife_

_to save the one he had loved his whole life._

_Her tears now water these cursed woods,_

_the trees now stained with a good man's blood._

_Carter Smith_

_I shall love him for all my days_

"Wow," Amy said. "How depressing."

The redhead leaned in closer to examine the sparkling object on the headstone. It was a heart that was broken in half. Amy gasped. "I've seen this before. Julianna has one exactly like it only..." her voice trailed off. Then it hit her.

"Carter was Julianna's guardian, wasn't he? Her first, that is. But he died saving her when they were so unbearably close to the camp."

Ian nodded. "I met Carter a couple times. He was a Lucian. A very good one. He was wise and kind and usually made the right choice. He was laid back and patient, perfect for Julianna's abrasive attitude, and he loved her with his whole heart and would never let anything hurt her."

Amy nodded. She understood the young medic better now. "But that still doesn't tell me why you called me a Lucian."

Ian looked away. "Look, the real reason Carter died was-"

But Ian was cut off by a rustling in the woods. The color drained from his face as he realized that they had passed the camp boundaries. They were fair game to any of the soldiers who lurked in the shadows of the camp. So he did what came to his mind first. He spun around and faced his attackers.

_~L~_

**Oooooooooo! Such suspense! :D This was a longer chapter/installment for me. Four pages on Open Office. :) But then again half of the first page was just me rambling about stuff. Okay, guys the first two Drabbles of Dedication are taken. Only one left. I'm going to post HopeRising11's drabble short story today and MagicCahill's tomorrow. If you want a Drabble of Dedication you have to contact me in two days. Hmmmm. *thinks hard* Ah yes! Peanut butter for all the reviewers! :D *tosses peanut butter jars into the crowd* **

**random nameless person in crowd: Ow! That hit my head!**

**Sugar: Hmmmm. I should've charged more... Well anyways, that wraps up chapter 8. :) YAYZ! join me next time for chapter 9! xD**

**~Sugar**


	10. A New Sense of Urgency

**Heyz! This chapter is going to be a little bit short just because I have a horrible headache right now, and I only have thirty minutes to write it. . Suckish right? **

**Magic Cahill: Haha. I love British accents, and when people do it over the internet it just strikes me as funny... You're welcome. :) But unfortunately, it's probably not going to be up until tomorrow. :'(**

**Alex Almighty: I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Don't cry please! :( I just couldn't tell at first, but I figured it out! Haha muchos gracias. :) *sigh* Nyo. I'm not _that_ stupid. I get straight _A_'s on my report card you know... You remind me of my best friend's boyfriend's brother. Your personalities are almost exactly alike, and his name's Alex... creepy weird, right?**

**HopeRising11: Uh...well now I can! :D You're welcome, by the way. And for those people out there who read it, I'm sorry. I forgot to mention that it was complete. I'm never going to update it...**

**Now on with the story! :D (I own nothing about the 39 Clues...)**

_~L~_

Ian's body was poised, ready to attack. His senses kicked into overdrive. He slipped a knife that he had kept in his sleeve into his hand, his muscles tense, but to his surprise and complete embarrassment, a white-colored bunny came bounding from behind the shrub and rubbed up against Amy's leg, making her step back an inch or two. He immediately relaxed and waited for Amy's joking remark, but...it never came. He looked over at her. Her face was pale and beaded with sweat, her eyes wide with shock. Her whole body shook.

"Amy, are you okay?" he asked, concerned.

Her eyes drifted over to him for a short time, but they slid back into their former position-looking strait in front of her. He looked to where she was gazing, and anger soon replaced his concern. The tree that stood directly in front of Amy was covered in knives and throwing stars. Amy had been only inches from certain death. _How could somebody have tried to hurt her like that!_ Ian fumed to himself. _The soldiers must've known someone would come here to Carter's memorial and set a trap to deplete the army at least by one._ A bit of blood trickled from a minor wound on Amy's cheek where a dagger had come a bit too close to her face.

"I-I a-almost just d-d-died!" she choked out. Ian examined her slight wound more closely to make sure that it wasn't deep, but what he found was far from what he had expected. The cut on her face was already turning red from infection, but that's not what surprised him. The blood vessels surrounding the cut were turning purple and blue, making a strange pattern on her face. The dagger had been dipped in poison. That meant that this trap had been set recently, for poison didn't linger long on a steel blade like that. His blood turned cold with a realization that they wouldn't stay undiscovered for long. He needed to get away from his surrounding threat, but more importantly, Amy could die from the poison.

Before she fell over, Ian scooped her up in his arms and dashed through the woods toward the camp. Flying was too dangerous...he had already found that out by experience, and he had no intention of flying in dangerous airs again.

_~L~_

**I know! It's so short! I'm so ashamed! I'm sorry. :'( I'll try to make the next chapter extra really super long. :) Would that make up for it? Well, I have to go before I get grounded for staying up too late. Reviews would be awesome! :D**

**~ Sugar**


	11. Dreams

***sigh* I really have nothing to say...**

**MagicCahill: THANK YOU SOOOOOO MUCH! :D I've been so so busy, so it's a relief to hear you say that! :) I swear I'll have it up by tomorrow as the soonest and spring break as the latest! :) Whew! **

**PJOTKCLucian: *gasp* I know! I love that part! :D Well, not the fact that she almost dies, but it was heroic and sweet. :) Ha-ha. Well thank you! :) Oh, and I'm kind of curious as to what the PJOTKC thing stands for... I enjoy being enlightened. :P**

**Alex Almighty: Bahahahaha! That's probably one of the funniest things that anyone has ever said to me (I greatly envy your sense of humor)...well, it still doesn't beat "(insert Sugar's real name here), you're my urinal." That was at a party, and it was 5 a.m., but that's a completely different story for another day. :) Uh...okay. Now _that _was probably the _creepiest _ thing anyone has ever said to me... I wish to keep my spleen, thank you. **

**bookgirl39: Wow. We really need to talk about your weird phobias of Ian's death and bunny rabbits... Ian says: Wow that's kind of creepy and strange... I probably would _not_ do that.**

**Sugar: Ian!**

**Ian: *sigh* What.**

**Sugar: Do the disclaimer please.**

**Ian: What? No! I have to go get Amy back to camp, so she can get the poison out of her system!**

**Sugar: Awww. That was sweet. You're concerned. But I'm the writer, so she won't die unless I say so. So go.**

**Ian: Wait wait wait. You're telling me that I got hurt because _you_ said so? **

**Sugar: ...you know, I would deny that...except that that is _exactly_ what happened. But that's not the point. Just do the disclaimer, and I'll give you...something.**

**Ian: Like what?**

**Sugar: WELL IT'S GONNA BE TUBERCULOSIS IF YOU DON'T DO THE DISCLAIMER RIGHT NOW!**

**Ian: Alright! Alright! Fine! Jeesh! SugarQueen8490 doesn't own the 39 Clues or the idea of winged people.**

**Sugar: Good boy. Now on with the story!**

**Ian: What I'm not a dog!**

**Sugar: This conversation is over.**

**Ian: Wait! I never got to –**

_~L~_

"Is she going to be okay?" Ian asked as Julianna examined Amy.

"Hmmm. It's tough to say. The cut isn't very deep, and, luckily, the poison didn't spread very far, but it's a very complicated toxin. It doesn't have a cure so far," she said as she scrutinized Amy's pale face. The redhead was unconscious on a cot in the Seraph medic tent and was shivering feverishly.

"What! It doesn't have a cure! Is she going to die?"

"Chill out! I don't know yet! I'll have to do a more thorough inspection, but it doesn't look like anything I've ever dealt with before. I'll need some blood and saliva samples to be sure, but, Ian, it doesn't look good," she said, her grave stare boring holes through his heart. Julianna never said anything unless there was a pretty good chance of it happening. She hated being wrong.

Ian swallowed hard and licked his lips. "What can I do to help?"

_~L~_

Black. Everything was coal black. It was suffocating her, sucking the life right out of her. Amy drifted through the nothingness. She didn't know where to go or what to do, so she just let herself relax and glide through oblivion. Her body felt nothing as if her sensed had been turned off.

Suddenly, she saw a bright light ahead. It was quite dim at first, but then it grew brighter and brighter until the intensity of the light was too much, and she had to look away. She felt herself being pulled toward the strange luminescence as if it were a vacuum.

The light exploded in front of her face, and she saw the real world again. Only, it was a scene from her past. She was about six years old, baking cookies with her parents while little Dan licked the dough off of the spatula. His face and hands were covered with the stuff, and this made her realize how much she had missed him. Tears came to her eyes as she looked at her parents. They looked so happy, so unsuspecting of their rapidly-approaching demise.

The scene changed, and she was now watching a more current memory from the Clue hunt. She and Dan were sitting at a little bistro in Paris, eating breakfast with Nellie. She felt a pang of sadness at the sight of her au pair. She had had to take another plane that day for reasons that she couldn't remember anymore. The presence of her memories was so overwhelming. They seemed so vivid, so real.

The setting changed again, and she was looking at Ian hunching over her body. Julianna was off to the side, doing something. She couldn't quite tell what they were doing because their bodies were blocking her view, but she had a horrible feeling that this was present day.

But before she could call out to them to tell them that she was okay, that there was on need to worry, she was standing in a graveyard. She was placed beneath the arched entrance, and from her position she could just make out a figure in the distance through the dense fog. The person was in a kneeling position in front of a gravestone with a flower in hand. They slowly placed the blossom on the mound of dirt, stood up, and walked away, tears glistening on their face in the pale moonlight. Amy walked up to the grave that the person had just been visiting and looked at the headstone. She couldn't quite read the words because of the darkness and fog. She leaned closer for a better look, but she felt herself being pulled away. She was yanked out of the cemetery and was sucked back into the black oblivion. She tried desperately to get back into the light, but it grew smaller and faded in a few short moments.

Just then, she heard a voice faintly from a distance. "I think that should do it," the voice said. It sounded so familiar, yet she couldn't quite place it. Then her senses kicked back on, and Amy could feel a warm hand on her forehead. She heard quite murmurs, but they sounded distant and muffled. Light came to her eyes, but she couldn't focus on anything. It was all so blurry and jumbled, but she figured out that Julianna and Ian were hovering above her with concerned looks in their eyes. Her eyes came into focus, and she saw three other forms in the background. _Austin, Abbigale, and Drew,_ she guessed.

She became aware of an excruciating pain in her head and face. She moaned, for the agony just got worse and worse with every little move she made. She felt someone stroking her hair, smoothing it back from her face. She looked up into Ian's golden eyes.

"Wha? What happened?" Amy croaked.

Ian beamed at her, happy that she was awake and talking. "You got poisoned. You...you almost died," he answered.

She heard his reply, but it didn't register in her brain. She tried to sit up, but the pain stopped her. She cried out in agony. "Ian. Please...please t-take me s-somewhere else. Please," Amy pleaded. She didn't know why, but she just wanted to be out of that tent..._now_.

He nodded and picked her up, being careful not to jar her body and cause her more pain. She weakly wrapped her arms around his neck and let herself be carried to the Lucian part of the camp where Ian's personal tent had been set up. He went inside and laid her down gently on his cushy mat. She looked up at him blankly.

"Ian. Ian, I gotta tell you something," she tried to say, but her words were slurred and indistict.

He shushed her. "Get some rest, Amy. You can tell me later."

She shook her head, but her exhaustion soon overcame her, and she fell asleep again.

_~L~_

**Sorry, guys. It's shorter then what I had originally planned, but it's finals week, and I have to go study and stuff. So if you could just leave a review, that would be awesome! :D **

**~ Sugar **


	12. The Many Complications of Teenage Life

**PJOTKCLucian: Yep. My school is crazy. It's just now that I'm on spring break... . OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOhhhhhhhhh! Haha! Why didn't I figure that out sooner? I've read both of those. :)**

**omg-KITTENS: Yes. Yes, I do. Smiling's my favorite. And yes. Yes, you will, but I won't give anything away.**

**MagicCahill: Uh...like what? ',:l Would you, like, use chidori on me and electrocute me to pieces or something? :/ Well, thank you! :D You're about as nice as Abbigale! :) (she's, like, the nicest person ever)**

**Now on with the story! xD**

_~L~_

(inside Amy's dream)

She was running, always running. She saw these two figures up ahead of her, and she felt the need and a strange urgency to catch up to them. But...she never could. They would always get farther and farther away, and she was helpless to do anything. She pumped her legs faster, her lungs burning from the exertion.

Then the people melded into one person and took on new features. He was a teenager this time rather than an adult. He was tall with platinum blonde hair. He was just walking, but he still outpaced her. His arms swung lazily at his sides. The form changed again into a girl. She had her blonde hair braided over her shoulder, her hands in her pockets. A bright silhouette appeared next to her. It took on the shape of a transparent human and turned to the girl. He said something that made her laugh, and he turned back to look at Amy. He hovered over the ground in front of her while the girl just kept walking on and disappeared over the horizon. He didn't have a distinct face, but she could tell that he was sad.

"You are not the hero," he murmured. "Do not give your life to something that you are not destined for." He turned and glanced back to where the blonde girl had disappeared. "Your time will come, but in the end, it will not be _your_ soul that will leave the earth."

"What do you mean?" she asked. His form shimmered and turned into a small rabbit.

"You will learn in due time," the rabbit said. "But for now, you must wake up. Wake up. Wake up!"

The boy's voice changed into a familiar one, and she felt hands shaking her intensely. Amy's eyes popped open, and she stared up into the face of her guardian. "Wha? What is it?" she asked sleepily.

"You were shaking and screaming in your sleep. Your arms and legs kept moving. I was just concerned about you. I didn't know if you were having a nightmare."

She nodded. "Yes. Ian, there's something I have to tell you...about a dream I had when I was, um, about to die."

He looked thoughtful for a moment before answering. "Often times when we are on the verge of death we are able to see things that are going to happen in the future," Ian agreed.

Then the thought occurred to her. "Ian, did _you_ see anything when you were about to die?"

"It's hard to say what I saw exactly, but that experience did teach me one thing. I don't want to know what you saw. The future can't be changed. You just have to deal with it."

A long silence occurred before anyone said anything."I want to go home," she whispered so softly he could barely hear.

"Um, what?" he asked a bit sharply.

"I want to go home," she repeated. "I'm worried about Dan. He's all alone out there in the world, probably wondering where the heck I am. I need to get home to Dan and Nellie, and, plus, I really don't feel like dying anytime soon."

His golden eyes flashed with controlled anger. "Amy," he said coolly. "We all want to go home. None of us want to die, but that doesn't mean we can just leave."

"Well, I _am_ going to whether you like it or not! I'm tired of being worried! I'm tired of almost dying! I just want to go home and not worry about anything at all! I didn't even want to come with you in the first place! I actually had stuff that I left behind when I came with you, you know!" she yelled.

"Do you really think you're going to survive out there all alone! All of us have almost died! All of us want to leave our worries behind! I brought you here because we need you! _I_ need you! You're not the only one who left things behind! THE WHOLE WORLD DOESN'T REVOLVE AROUND YOU!" he screamed at the top of his lungs.

She recoiled in shock, afraid of what his rage would bring, but he didn't do anything to her. "Find me when you're ready to grow up," he said bitterly, and, with that, he stalked out of the tent.

Amy curled up on the mat she had been lying on. It was only after she had said it that she realized that she had hit Ian everywhere it hurt. He had given up his whole life to this. He had left his sister behind to their evil mother. If it weren't for him, she would be dead right now. She felt like a big pile of crud. She had just ticked off the closest thing she had left of the past. A small tear trickled from the corner of her eye, and for once, Ian wasn't there to comfort her.

_~L~_

Ian laid up in the hayloft of the camp's stable. They had made a quick make shift stable out of wood from the surrounding trees, but it was still a nice stable with a sturdy foundation thanks to the Tomas. He was way back in the corner of the loft, sitting behind a wall of hay, and thankfully no one could see him from where he was. _How could she be so selfish? _he fumed to himself. _Doesn't she realize what's at stake here? Doesn't she know how much everyone gave up to be here? To defend their kind?_

_But she was just worried about her brother, _he decided. _She was just stressed out from all of this. It's not really fair to get everything shoved in your face at one time like she did. At least I had a couple years to figure it all out...but that's just how it works with Seraphs. That's just the way it has to go._

He fought with himself internally for a couple more minutes before he heard a shuffling noise in the loft, and before he knew it, Amy was looking down at him from her standing position in front of the hay pile that he was hiding in. "I'm sorry," she said. "I**-**"

"No, I'm sorry," he cut in. "I shouldn't have blown up at you like that. Getting mad just makes everything worse, and it did."

She nodded and climbed over the hay pile to sit across from him in his hiding place. "You were really hard to find, you know."

"Yeah, how _did_ you find me?"

"I had to ask a lot of people, but Julianna finally gave me good advice as to where you might be."

He sighed. "Darnit," he said. Amy laughed.

"She said this is where you always come to think, and it's her place, too, so she found you here one time."

He nodded with a smile. "Ian," Amy started. "You came here once, didn't you?"

"Yeah. I was pretty young then—about ten or eleven. I had heard rumors about a group of winged people living up in the Appalachians, so I came to find out if they were true."

"But how did you make it here? How did you find this place?"

"The same way I knew you were a Seraph**—**instinct. You see, the Ekats made this high-tec forcefield around the camp, so that you can only find this place if you know what you're looking for. It's impossible for regular humans to find it. That's why it's the main base."

"You mean there are other camps?"

"Yes. Five, actually. You can't have everyone in the same place or else you'd be much more vulnerable. All of us could get wiped out with one blow," he explained. Then his features turned more thoughtful, and he stared at the wall beside him.

"A penny for your thoughts," the redhead offered.

He looked at her and smirked. "A penny for my thoughts? No, _I_ sell mine for a dollar."

Amy rolled her eyes. "Fine. A _dollar_ for your thoughts."

"Amy, what I'm going to say is going to sound way cheesy and completely unlike anything I've ever said... **-**she arched an eyebrow**- **I spend half my time thinking about you and how much I wish you would like me as much as I like _you, _and the other half I spend wishing I'd never met you."

Her eyes opened wide in shock. What had he just said? She was about to reply, but before she could say something intelligent like "Uh, what?", he leaned forward and kissed her softly on her lips. Amy felt her face burn with heat all the way up to her ears. They lingered on the soft lip caress. It was the sweetest thing she had ever tasted, but Ian pulled back and grinned at her, all of his doubt completely gone.

"Well, I have to go help Drew and Abbigale with something. I think they said something about a snake they caught in the woods..."

Ian climbed out of the hay loft, leaving Amy alone to her thoughts. Her mind wasn't registering, though. All she could think about, all she could feel was the kiss she had just shared with Ian Kabra.

_~L~_

**Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! This chapter is just dripping with OOCness! I'm sorry. I needed to have a completely OOC chapter that I could stuff anything I wanted into... Smite if you shall, but I'm sticking with this. Okay, what was your favorite chapter? I want to know. Mine was six. What is your favorite scene from this story? Tell me, tell me, tell me! All you have to do is click that nice little button right down there and start typing in words. It's not that hard. Now go! Go my little chicky ducks and review like your lives depend on it! :D**

**~Sugar**


	13. A Major Setback

**Okay. Well I've decided to take MagicCahill's advice and start focusing more on making the chapters longer rather than updating every day, but this chapter isn't going to be super duper long. In this one, I'm focusing mainly on quality and accuracy. Oh, and I'm also going to really take advantage of the thesaurus that's programmed into my Mac, so there're probably going to be a couple big words in this chapter... So here goes... *crosses fingers***

_~L~_

"Okay, people," the teen yelled as he paced in front of the large group. "Today in your training we will be deep sea diving. The Vespers can and will come from anywhere they can, so you'll need the knowledge to deal with every emergency situation out there. We will be flying with our gear over to the Atlantic to do some diving. My name is Shawn, by the way. Now. Any questions?"

A Seraph near the back of the group raised her hand and was called on. "Aren't we, like, deep in the Appalachians? How will we even get there?"

"Ah, good question. Before we go, I'll teach you a little technique that I learned that will cut our travel time down considerably as long as we don't have to stop every five minutes for a bathroom break," he answered as he glared overdramaticly at a Guardian in the front row. The kid blushed an took a step back.

A blonde Guardian on the left side of the group raised his hand. "What's that trick that you're going to show us?" he asked. Amy realized that it was Drew, and Abbigale, Austin, and Julianna were standing near him.

The lead boy grinned like he was the smartest person in the world. "Just watch."

He took off from a standstill, his brown tufts of hair getting messed up in the wind. He flapped his wings and gained altitude until he was soaring beside the clouds. He then made a sudden nose dive and pulled up before hitting the ground, causing him to gain a great amount of speed. The boy glided speedily and effortlessly across the sky. Then Amy saw him fold his wings in a strange fashion. His wing muscles were taught and tense, and it seemed like his wings were being compressed. The redhead was surprised to see that this increased his speed by a considerable amount. Then the Guardian gave one last fluent thrust with his wings, and everyone lost sight of him.

Everyone in the group gasped and whispered amongst themselves, but Ian just smiled as if he and the other Guardian were sharing a secret. "Ian, where'd he go?" Amy asked.

"Oh, he's still here. He's simply flying too fast for anyone to see him."

"What? What are you..." her voice trailed off as she made the connection. "Wait. When I got captured that's how you got to me so fast wasn't it? The trees swayed because of the wind force you were creating around you. And how you got here all the way from England."

The Kabra nodded. "Exactly."

After a few minutes of panic, Shawn slowed down his extreme pace and landed in front of the crowd with a grin, sweat beaded on his forehead. "Whew! Sure takes a lot out of you, but it's worth the trouble. I just went to Texas and back."

There were some murmurs of disbelief in the crowd, but the instructor dismissed them and continued with the lesson. "Now the trick is to spin while you're flying. It increases speed and accuracy."

"Accuracy?" someone asked.

"Yes. While you're going at that speed it's dangerous to open your eyes or else they might...you know...pop out, so you have to sort of aim yourself at your destination and hope you get there," he said with a nonchalant grin.

Some of the people in the group were doubtful and fearful, but he simply ignored them and took to the skies again. "Come on! Come try it!" he shouted from above.

Most of the teens were hesitant and concerned for the mental health of their insane instructor, but they followed his orders none the less. After a lot of practice and tips from Ian, Amy finally got the hang of it and soared through the sky at speeds she didn't even know were possible for her. Her Guardian beamed at her success and glided alongside her. One of his wings brushed hers flirtatiously, making her blush. Ian just chuckled at her flustered behavior.

Shawn landed on the ground and motioned for everyone else to do the same. "Okay, all of you look really good out there! Flying with diving gear in your arms is going to be much harder, though, but I figured we'd just get flying and see how it went. If anybody crashes or drops their gear...well, that's a bridge we'll cross when we get there."

The boy gestured to the pile of diving paraphernalia. "Now grab some gear, and let's get this show on the road!"

_~L~_

Amy stood hunched over, her hands on her knees. Her breath came in gasps. They had reached the beaches of the Atlantic in no time, but it had drained her to a point of no return. Her legs were shaky, and she had to stabilize herself on Ian which only made her more shaky. She didn't know what it was, but lately he had been making her feel weird inside whenever he was around—all the time. She felt like she had accidentally swallowed a bunch of butterflies, and now they were doing the Irish jig on her abdomen. Whenever he touched her, it felt like a small bolt of electricity was pulsating from the contact point. Oh, the never ending drama of teenage life.

"Are you okay?" Ian asked. Not a drop of sweat was on his forehead, nor was his breathing offbeat and erratic.

She glared at him. "I envy your stamina."

The teen chuckled. "Well then. Rar."

"Rar means 'I love you' in Dinosaur," Amy pointed out.

"Love, rar means everything in Dinosaur."

She smacked him on the arm. "Quit calling me that! You promised not to."

"Yeah. I also promised my best friend in first grade that I would take good care of his goldfish while he was in Germany. That poor, dead goldfish," he said, faking sadness.

Amy laughed. Ever since they had gotten to the camp, he had developed a bit of a sense of humor. He was pretty much hilarious when he wanted to be._ Wow. The world really has changed ever since he saved me that day..._ she mused to herself.

"Okay," Shawn said, snapping her out of her reverie. "We're going to have to boat out into the ocean a ways, so let's grab the gear and get out there!"

The small group had no trouble with cramming everyone onto the large boat that Shawn had rented. They cruised along for about an hour until they were a good ways away from the shoreline. Shawn instructed everyone about how to put on the suits so as to not injure their wings, hook up the oxygen tanks, and adjust the tight-fitting goggles. When they were all suited up, the brunette told them how to fall backward off of the boat, and before long, they had all taken the plunge.

Amy was absolutely amazed at how peaceful it was down there. It was dark and eerily quiet...but peaceful. She could almost forget the upcoming battle that she and hundreds of other teens were facing..._almost_. Ian gave her a thumbs-up and a big grin from where he was swimming beside her. She watched in amazement at his clean, powerful strokes in the water. She felt her own muscles ripple from the stress of propelling herself through the water. Most people would use machines to swim, but the camp's budget was beginning to diminish little by little as more and more mouths to feed appeared on the doorstep, and more and more problems kept arising.

They kept swimming and exploring and getting acquainted with the water for about forty-five minutes until Shawn motioned for everyone to surface near the boat. "Okay, is everyone comfortable with diving now?"

Everyone nodded. "Great! Well, let's get all this gear off and go grab a bite to eat! I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving."

They all laughed and agreed and settled down for the hour-long boat ride back to the shore. When they reached the docks everyone got off and sat down on the beach. Amy saw Abbigale, Julianna, and Austin all crowd around Drew and went over to see what was the matter.

"Hey, guys. Everything okay?" she inquired.

Drew shook his head. "I'm having really bad pain in my elbow joints, and this weird rash sprouted on my arm," he moaned. He inhaled sharply through his teeth and clutched his left elbow.

"Come on," Abbigale said. "Let's go tell Shawn. He'll know what to do."

They stood up to go talk to their instructor, but Drew suddenly doubled over and threw up on the sand and collapsed. "Agh!" he cried in panic. "My left side! It's going numb! I can't feel anything!"

Julianna rushed to his side. She looked strait into his eyes and mumbled something to herself. Amy suspected that she was mulling the symptoms over out loud. Suddenly, she stopped her murmuring. Her blue-green eyes grew wide with a sudden realization. "It...it can't be," she whispered.

"What? What is it? What's wrong with Drew?" Abbigale asked urgently, shaking the young medic's arm. The other girl didn't reply but simply gave her a miserable gaze.

"Shawn! We need to get Drew to the hospital! NOW!" she commanded with an intense urgency.

Their brunette instructor ran over to their little gathering. "What? Why? What's going on?" he asked.

Julianna repeated Drew's symptoms to him, and they shared a look of understanding. Whatever it was that the blonde Guardian had, Shawn knew what it was, too. The instructor nodded gravely. "Julianna, you, Austin, and Abbigale will fly him to the nearest hospital. I'll take a small group of people back to camp to get our best medics and bring them back here to help. Everyone else will follow on foot and create a distraction so that no regular people notice a couple of winged kids landing in front of the hospital. Is that clear?"

Everyone nodded. "Good! Now go!"

_~L~_

Amy rocked back and forth in her chair with the sheer anticipation of waiting for news. The waiting room was small and crammed with everyone from the diving group. Abbigale sat in the corner with Austin, chewing her thumbnail and constantly looking at the hallway for the doctor to appear and inform her of the condition of her best friend. Julianna had insisted on helping the doctors, and after some convincing of her knowledge and violent threats from her, they finally let her help.

Everyone was relieved when they heard the soft clacking of the medic's Chuck Taylors in the hallway. Abbigale stood up and ran to meet her friend. "How is he? What's happening? What does he have?" she gushed.

"He's definitely been better, and he has decompression illness. He has high-flow oxygen and IV fluids. Blood and urine samples will be sent to a laboratory to assess any blood clotting problems and hydration status. He's going to need to be flown out of here on a helicopter to a bigger hospital in Atlanta because he need to go to a hyperbaric chamber for recompression."

"What? What's a hyperbaric chamber? Recompression?"

"Yes. During the process, the chamber becomes pressurized with air and oxygen based on prearranged protocols to simulate pressure depths of thirty to sixty feet."

Everyone looked at her like she was crazy. "English please?" someone asked.

The girl sighed. "You see, nitrogen from a diver's air tank increases in pressure as a diver descends. For every thirty-three feet in ocean water, the pressure due to nitrogen goes up another eleven point six pounds per square inch. As the pressure due to nitrogen increases, more nitrogen dissolves into the tissues. The longer a diver remains at depth, the more nitrogen dissolves for any specific depth. Unlike the oxygen in the air tank, the nitrogen gas isn't utilized by the body and builds up over time, causing nitrogen bubbles to build up in the blood stream and block the blood flow. Therefore, you need to recompress the victim to get rid of the bubbles and prevent blood clotting, strokes, and heart attacks."

"Yeah," the person said sarcastically. "That clears everything up."

She rolled her eyes. "Well excuse me for studying medicine at an extremely young age."

"So is he going to be okay?" Abbigale asked again.

The other girl took a deep breath. "He should be fine as long as they get him to the hyperbaric chamber soon enough, but we can only hope, can't we?"

"Well, this isn't a major setback, right?" Amy asked. "I mean, I'm sad that Drew's in the hospital, but he's not a major component to the battle strategy."

Ian shook his head, disagreeing with his Seraph. "He's one of the camp's best fighters. He actually is a very major part to our strategy."

Amy sighed, exasperated, and plopped down on one of the waiting room chairs and put her head in her hands. "Great. What next?"

Ian took her by the hand and led her to the door. "Come on. You need some fresh air."

They got outside the door and took off quickly, getting some quizzical stares from passers-by. They flew higher and higher until they were above the clouds, Ian still holding her hand. Suddenly, he pulled her into a dive, and they landed gracefully on top of a skyscraper. They sat in silence for a while, the wind swaying them side to side.

"What's going to happen next?" Amy asked, breaking the silence. "What will we do?"

He looked over at her. A certain sadness was held behind his eyes. "I don't know. I honestly don't."

Ian saw her bottom jaw quiver and knew that she was on the verge of tears. He rubbed her back between her wings and mumbled comforting words. "I never wanted this life for you, you know. I thought this would be more simple, but I had no idea how complicated things would get."

She nodded and bit her lip. "I-I just...I just want it all to go away," she responded, her voice thick with emotion.

"I know," he said as he pulled her into a hug. He rubbed her arm furthest from him, and she melted into his side as if she would fall apart without his arm around her. Her tears came, and Ian did the best to wish them away. He softly kissed her forehead, and her onslaught of tears slowly subsided.

"I'm scared," the redhead whispered.

"There's no need to be. I am your Guardian, and I _will_ keep you safe," he said. The firmness and confidence in his voice brought a new wave of assurance to Amy. She smiled and kissed his cheek.

"You always know how to cheer me up even when the whole world seems hopeless."

He beamed at her, stood up, and offered her a hand. "Let's get back to real life, shall we?"

She smiled back. "We shall."

_~L~_

**Whew! It's done! :P This was a very long chapter for me, so this chappie is dedicated to all the people who love long chapters and have favorited/reviewed this story. :D R & R is much appreciated!**

**~ Sugar**


	14. Two Explanations and Ten More Questions

**La la la la la la laaa. Lala la laaaa. Hey, guys! I'm currently listening to music and dancing around the room because I'm extremely bored! :P What a life! So if you see any spelling errors (I almost just misspelled 'spelling') please tell me 'cause I'm a little distracted and hyperactive right now. It's hard for me to concentrate. :D Oh, yeah. This is going to be more of an explanation chapter. I'll be answering your questions in the best way I can—through my characters. (I usually only answer questions indirectly) Enjoy! :P**

_~L~_

Amy looked around the room, and couldn't help but feel happy. Drew had been flown to this hospital where he had gotten immediate treatment, and he was simply recovering now. Ian, Julianna, Abbigale, Austin, and she were now sitting in a tent back at camp. Abbigale had been hesitant to leave her Guardian's side, but Drew had insisted on her coming back to camp for safety reasons.

"Okay, so, Ian. What's your middle name? I'm kind of curious," Julianna asked.

Ian just grinned. "It's Charles."

"Huh...I though for sure that it would be weirder than tha-" she paused in mid sentence. "Wait. You're middle name is Charles? **-**Ian nodded**- **So wouldn't that mean that all your initials together would spell out the word 'ICK'?" she asked, bemused.

The teen's face grew red. "Well...I...suppose..."

Everyone laughed, and Ian gave a good-natured smile. "Well, I'm curious about you. Drew has told me some pretty embarrassing stuff about you, and I want to confirm."

"WHAT! LIKE, WHAT KIND OF STUFF! So help me, if he told you about Keaton, I will tie him to a chair and slowly take an icepick to the roof of his mouth until he's dead!"

"Wow. The ever-so-violent one. No, he didn't tell me anything about this Keaton person, but he did tell me about why a shoe-size matters."

"What! I'm not even the one who said it! I heard it from a friend's friend!"

"What?" Austin asked. "Why does a shoe-size matter?"

"Oh, no! I will not get caught up in this. I'm not telling anyone else!"

He looked away with mock hurt. "But...I thought you could tell me anything. Am I not trustworthy? Oh, I'm such a terrible Guardian!" he exclaimed overdramaticly while fake sobbing into his hands.

"No! No, no, no,! Stop crying please! Please! I get so flustered when people cry!"

"No, no! I won't be able to stop crying! I'll just have to wallow in self pity for a few more hours!"

"Stop it! You're acting so much like Drew right now it's not even funny!"

Everyone was practically rolling on the floors with laughter. Julianna may be a quarter Lucian and rock at lying, but she could never tell when other people were faking it, no matter how overdramatic they were being. "What! I don't see what's so funny!"

"I was just acting," Austin explained through his tears of mirth.

The medic's face grew red. "I hate you."

"I love you, too, Julianna."

"Love, hate. Strong words to be using," Amy said.

Austin shrugged. "I do. I love her, and I'm pretty sure she hates me sometimes."

"Oh, please, Austin. The relationship between a Guardian and his Seraph is pretty much a soulmate connection. I can't help but love you," she said with a teasing grin on her features. Amy quickly glanced over at Ian to find that he was staring at her. She blushed furiously and turned back to Julianna.

"Yeah, she _is_ right," Abbigale said. "A Guardian will only pick the one he's perfect for. He'll wait forever if he has to. Which can be dangerous."

"What? Why?"

"If a Guardian hasn't found his Seraph by the time he turns sixteen, his purpose in life will be considered unfulfilled, and he will die."

Amy started at Abbigale in disbelief. She turned to Ian. "You only had two more years until..."

He nodded. "Austin only had a couple months."

"Yeah, I'm lucky that Drew and Abbi introduced me to her."

Julianna nodded. "So," Amy said. "I know this is sort of a touchy subject, but I'm curious about Carter."

The medic's eyes flared up with intent rage, but she controlled it and simply sighed. "I figured this would come. I can't hide him forever, I suppose. Carter and I met at school. He was absolutely perfect. He told me everything about the War Hawks, and I immediately wanted to be a part of it. A few days later I got my wings, and we headed off for camp. We met a few people along the way, and one of them was a Seraph who has lost her Guardian. She wanted to join us on our trek for the camp, so we let her. We got to the camp borders. We were _so close_. But...she turned on us. She had been an undercover spy, a Madrigal. She tried to attack me and kill me, but Carter ended up getting injured more than I did. I dragged Carter with my last ounce of strength back to camp and got inside, away from her. The medics at camp tried everything, but...it just wasn't enough. They were able to save me from dying, Carter died twenty-four hours after we reached the border. I died emotionally that day.

"I didn't want to stay at camp, so I went back home where my parents welcomed me back. I went back to school and tried to be a normal freak with wings. Life was hard and merciless until I met Drew and Abbigale. I found out later that they were a Guardian/Seraph pair. They helped me along with life and empathized with me when I needed someone. Later they introduced me to Austin at Wednesday night youth group, and I guess I found my other half again. I came back to camp with them and became the head of the medic tent. I didn't want any other Seraph to have to go through the same thing that I did."

"How did you come up with the medical knowledge to run something like that?"

"My dad's a doctor. I stole some of his medical books on my way out and took some online courses."

"That's quite a story."

She nodded and sniffed. "I miss him sometimes, but Austin's here to help me. I love him just as much as I did Carter." Austin smiled at her.

"Why do Seraphs need Guardians anyway?"

Julianna looked at Ian. "You haven't told her yet?"

Ian looked grim and shook his head. "I didn't think it was the right time."

"Look, Amy. A Guardian can die, and his Seraph will keep on living...but if a Seraph dies, so does her Guardian. That's why everyone always targets the Seraphs first. If you could just kill half the Seraphs here, you'd take out most of our army."

"But why? Why does that happen?"

"Because when a Guardian finds his one and only, he emotionally connects with her. He loves her so much that he would die if she did."

"But...why am _I_ so important?"

"Because Ian lives in England and you live in America."

"So what."

"So what? Amy, connections like that are very rare. If a Guardian and a Seraph live in two different countries, they hardly ever find each other. The Seraph usually goes on living as a normal person, and the Guardian dies. But that didn't happen with you. You two found each other which could only mean that you were meant for a greater purpose."

Amy looked down. She didn't know what to think. "So...how does Drew play into all this? Ian, you said he was important to the stratagem."

Ian nodded. "In due time, love."

"So," Abbigale started. "Do you guys want to play Truth or Dare?"

"Why not. Let's give it a shot," Ian agreed.

"Okay, I'll go first," the brunette said. "Let's see...Ian Truth or dare?"

"Hm...truth." Ian was no scaredy cat, but he seriously didn't feel like doing anything stupid right then.

"Okay. You have to tell us an embarrassing story about yourself."

Amy laughed. "You should tell them about your encounter with Buffy."

Ian's face turned red. "Ugh! That idiotic dog! I still have scars on my... You get the point."

She nudged him in the arm. "Just tell them."

Ian told them everything from when they arrived at the Oh estate until he ran out of the hedge maze screaming "Help me! She bit me in the bum!" Everyone was basically in tears from laughing so hard. He had just told it in a certain way that even when you were there, you had to laugh again. Ian was getting much better at the whole sense of humor thing.

"Okay, okay. I think we all had better go to bed now," Julianna said through her fits of laughter. "It's almost midnight."

They all agreed and walked out of the tent except for Julianna, seeing as though it was her tent. Austin went over to the Lucian section while Abbigale went over to the Janus section. Ian and Amy walked over to the Lucian part of camp and came to Ian's tent. It was only then that she realized awkwardly that she had been sleeping in either his or the medic tent for the past two nights.

Ian seemed to come to this same conclusion because he blushed and looked at the ground. "Uh...you go ahead and sleep in there...I'll...uh...sleep outside."

"A-Are you s-sure? I-It's your-r tent after a-all." She had to do something about that stupid stutter of hers.

"Yeah, yeah. You go ahead. I'll just...sleep there," he said while pointing to a little patch of grass near his tent.

"Um...okay," she said. She walked into the tent and put on some pajamas that had conveniently been in her size.

She laid down on the soft mat and tried to go to sleep. Whenever she closed her eyes, though, images of a gruesome scene kept appearing in her vision. She saw a battlefield that was scattered with bloody bodies here and there, some having wings and some not. She saw a blonde-haired boy lying on his back. His face was bloody and burned, as if he had gotten too close to a large fire. Most of his clothes were singed and his face was hardly recognizable, but Amy could tell that it was Drew. Despite the pain that he must've been in, despite the horrifying screams that echoed in the valley around him, despite everything, he smiled. It was a smile of recognition of a job well done. His features were placid, as if he were completely okay with dying. After a moment, his chest stopped moving and his eyes closed—he was dead.

The horrifying image changed, and Amy was standing in the Guardian medic tent again. There were so many people there that it was impossible to single out any one person as someone she recognized. She walked over to a random person and looked down at his face. She gasped when she realized that it was Ian. Her own Guardian was lying on a cot with bandages all over his body. His face was bloody, and his hair was matted and tangled. She tried to take his hand and stroke his face, but her fingers passed right through him, as if she were a ghost. She cried out in frustration and sat down beside him, putting her head in her hands. What was happening? Was this a vision of the future? Was she getting snapshots of what was to come? What was Ian not telling her that he had seen? So many questions flooded her thoughts with worry.

Amy opened her eyes to make the horrid scene go away, but it was still there, burned forever in the depths of her psyche. The only thing that she could think about was Ian. Was he going to die? What would she do then? What would happen after the battle? She needed to talk to someone. But who? Who could possibly have any answers to her questions? She then remembered something that Ian had told her a long time ago. _"Often times when we're on the verge of death, we see things into the future."_

She knew who she needed to talk to. She got up, walked out of the tent, and headed for the middle of the camp.

_~L~_

**Ah. Another chapter finished. It's not the longest chappie ever, but it's more for explaining things. "That did explain some things, but it only left more questions in my head!" you say. Well, yes. That's just the way I roll, people. R&R please! :P**

**~Sugar**


	15. A Fight,A Talk,Secrets,and Juju Badoop

**Hey, hey! I'm back! :P Okay, this may sound a bit random, but it's necessary. If you like this story, and you haven't told me yet, please PM me. But all you have to say is POPTARTS! If you want to say more, that's completely okay with me, but you must include POPTARTS! Why? a.) I 3 Poptarts! :P b.) It's the word of wuv in my class c.) I really, really want you to! And I'll give you peanut butter! YAYYYYYZZZZ! :D Sorry, guys. I'm really hyper right now. I just ate a giant bowl of cantaloupe. Besides my crazy obsession with peanut butter, I'm in love with a melon... :D**

**Lolipop888: Well, thank you! :P Much appreciated! I shall. :)**

**the-spider-queen: Welcome. :D Amy saw into the future. If it's something mysterious like that, it's usually the future. Ian...yeah. Poor, poor Ian. He's just getting hurt all the time! :P But in this story, I think he's only gotten hurt...once. *thinks really hard* Yeah, once. :) **

**Now on with the story! xD**

_~L~_

Amy could feel her heart pounding in her chest. She wasn't supposed to be out past midnight—camp rules. She slipped in and out of the rows of tents like a silent shadow. She finally got to her predestined location and hesitated before opening the tent flap. Was this a good idea? She barely knew her. She willed herself to open the tent and walk in.

Julianna was kneeling on her mat, playing with a bunny. She didn't seem to notice that Amy had walked in because she just kept petting it and scratching it behind the ears. Amy cleared her throat and brought the medic's attention up to her. Julia's eyes widened with surprise, and she picked up the bunny and hid it behind her back.

"Amy, what are you doing here?"

"Aren't you not allowed to have pets at camp?"

The blonde blushed. "He...he's not mine. I'm just taking care of him for a distant relative."

"How distant?"

"He's my cousin's friend's sister's aunt's father's uncle's son's twice removed...and adopted."

Amy looked at her for a moment and burst into laughter. "Wow. Must be pretty distant."

The other girl smiled and put the bunny in her lap. "So what are you here for?"

"I wanted to talk to you about a vision I had once. **-**Julianna raised an eyebrow**- **When I was on the verge of death, I saw some things. Some were scenes from my past and the present, but I...I think I saw something from the future, too. I was standing in a cemetery, and I saw this person visit a grave and lay a flower on it. I went to go see who it was, but I could never make out the name. What do you think it means? Is...is someone going to die?"

Julianna sighed and looked at the ground, thinking hard. "It's tough to say. Many people see things when they're about to die. It's as if our souls somehow show us things that no one was supposed to see. Sometimes they're images of the future, yes, but sometimes they're more cryptic. Sometimes they symbolize things, rather than tell you directly."

Amy thought about it for a moment. "Did _you_ see anything?"

The blonde nodded her head in sadness. "I didn't really see much, but I heard a voice talking to me. It said that in the near future I would have to suffer a pain worse than death...and that**-**" Julianna was usually a very strong person, but the bad memories of the past left fresh scars in her memory. "It said that my friend would have to suffer that same pain. That's why I don't have many friends here. I don't want them to go through the same thing that I did."

Amy nodded, understanding extreme pain. "Julianna, I also saw something else."

She looked up. "What was it?"

"I...I saw Drew...he was dead. But I also saw Ian. I...I think he was dead, too."

"Again, sometimes visions don't show you exactly what the future holds. Often times after wars and battles, the Guardians leave their Seraphs at a time when it's safest to. They're never gone long, but no one, no Seraph, ever knows where they go. Their death could just be a symbolism that they're going to leave for a little bit after the final battle."

Amy nodded. "Yeah, you're probably right. Thanks for your advice. I need to go to bed now."

Julianna nodded, and as Amy turned to leave, she called out. "Wait. I won't tell if you won't tell."

"Tell what?"

"If you don't tell anyone about Juju Badoop, I won't tell that you were out after curfew."

"Juju Badoop?"

"My bunny. Abbigale named him."

Amy chuckled. It was times like these when she realized how young Julianna really was. She wasn't even a teenager yet...just twelve, yet she was the best doctor she had ever come across."Ah. Well, it's a deal," she said with a smile and walked back to Ian's tent.

When she got there, she was about to go in, but she stopped short when she noticed that Ian's body wasn't lying beside the tent where it should be. Curious, she went over to where he had been and felt the ground. It was still warm. Ian had left just recently. She stood up and looked around. Where could he have gone? She half ran, half flew to the stable and checked in the hay loft. She found nothing but hay and a few surprised hawks that were fluttering about in the rafters.

Frustrated, she jumped out of the hayloft window and into the night sky. She flew into the woods that were still inside camp boundaries and landed in the tallest tree she could find. She could see the whole camp from her position. It looked dark and eerily quiet in the pale moonlight. Every shadow looked like a threat, every swaying tent flap a Vesper spy. She stood up there for almost fifteen minutes, but she still couldn't find him.

She took off from the tree, leaving it swaying side to side, and flew as high up in the air as she could.  
She circled the camp, looking for Ian, but she could never see him. Tired and frustrated after an hour of searching, Amy decided to give up and wait for him to simply come back. She started to descend, but something big hit her in the side, causing both her and it to fall to the ground. She saw the ground get closer and closer and made a split second decision to unfurl her collapsed wings and slow herself down before her untimely demise. Whatever had hit her seemed to do this too because it landed on the ground right beside her with a soft thud.

"Geez. Watch it!" he said in a familiar voice.

"Ian!" Amy exclaimed and hugged him.

"Oh. Love, it's you. Why are you flying so late at night?"

"I could ask _you_ the same question."

He shrugged. "I just needed to clear my head. I've had a bunch of thoughts jumbled around in there for a while now. They're distracting me and keeping me from sleeping."

Amy nodded. "Well, I was looking for you."

He looked at her strangely. "Amy...how did you know that I was even gone?"

She avoided his gaze. "So anyway, let's get back to the tent."

"Amy," he said with a stern edge in his tone.

"Okay, I've had a lot of stuff in my head, too. I just needed to talk to someone about it...you know...besides you."

He looked genuinely hurt. "You can talk to me about anything."

"I've already tried, Ian," she said, now annoyed.

"What? What was it about?"

"Look, I've been having these weird dreams and visions for the past couple of days—ever since we got here. They all keep pointing to the same thing. The thing is, is it scares me. Why am I having these dreams? Are they straightforward or cryptic? If they're cryptic, what do they mean? If they're straightforward, what'll happen after that? I have so many questions and so few answers, and it seems like whenever I get an answer, a new question pops up. I just...I just don't know what to do. I feel so helpless to do anything about...anything!"

"Okay, well the first step is always to calm down. When you're all worked up, you can't think rationally."

Amy glared at him with a fierceness. "You have no idea what it's like to have so much expected of you, but you know you'll never be able to live up to it. You have no idea what it feels like to have something this big just shoved in your face like this. You have no idea what it's like to be scared and alone! You have been pampered form the day of your birth and told that the whole world is yours! That you can just...just take what you want! You don't know what it's like to struggle and fight for something so hard, but it's still just our of your reach. How could I possibly calm down when something like a huge battle is about to occur!"

Ian's face was shadowed, so Amy couldn't see his expression. All she could see were his eyes, glittering with red, hot anger. They were cold and unfeeling, and Amy had never seen anything like it. His eyes alone sent shivers up and down her spine. His body trembled as if it was taking all of his strength not to hit her, but...as Amy continued to look at him in fear, she noticed that his cheeks were glistening with shed tears. They kept spilling over from behind his eyes as if a dam had just been broken and all his emotions and unshed tears had come gushing out.

"This again," he said, his tone edged with razor-sharp steel. "The reason why I chose you as a Seraph was because I _have_ felt everything you have and more. I've felt an intense pain that you couldn't even imagine!"

He squeezed his eyes shut and shook with violent tremors. He was trying so hard to suppress his tears that it was causing his body to shake with the effort. Amy realized then that no one could be strong all the time. It was true that Ian was her protecter and he comforted her, but deep down he had been holding back tears of his own all along. She felt absolutely culpable then. She had just made him cry.

She pulled him into a tight hug. Ian stiffened a bit but hugged her back. His body quavered with the silent cries that he held back, and Amy could tell that his tears were still pouring down his face. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm sorry I hurt you again."

He didn't respond immediately but waited until he could get his voice under control. "It's okay," he said finally, his voice thick with emotion. "I know exactly how you feel all the time, remember?"

She laughed in spite of the mood of the moment. "I don't deserve you. You're too nice."

It was Ian's turn to laugh. "A few weeks ago, I never imagined in a million years that you would ever say those words to me."

She pulled back a bit, still staying in his arms, and looked at him. "Well, I never imagined in a million years that I'd ever even consider telling you that I love you."

His eyes widened with overjoyed shock. "I...uh...I never imagined that you'd say that either."

She laughed and kissed his cheek. "Now come on. We need to get back to the tent before we get caught out after curfew."

"You go ahead. I'll catch up."

She looked at him strangely but shrugged her shoulders and flew off, leaving him alone with his thoughts...and the letter from Isabel to Amy that he had intercepted. He took it out of his pocket and looked at it again. This was bad. This was really, really bad.

_~L~_

**Ooooooo! Cliffie! :P I love doing that! I used to hate them when I didn't write stories, but now I know how much fun they are! :D Read and review and I might just update sooner than last time...might. Oh, yeah. I have a beta now. She's my sister, and her name's Olivia. But she can't beat this chapter because she's sick today. :'( If you guys send in more reviews, she might get better sooner! :P So do it! Now! Shoo! This chapter is over already! Gosh! The heck! Stop reading! If you're still reading, then you have no life. ;)**

**~Sugar**


	16. Amy Knows

**Okay, so it's been a while since I've updated... I'm sorry! :'( *sigh* If you really want me to, I can pay you back by telling you a funny story about my life or something, but I'm not going to if I don't need to. :) So...AGKNOWLEDGEMENTS! xD**

**snowyclara: Bahahaha! I know! :P I 3 the name Juju Badoop! :P Abbigale calls me that, and I call her Fufu Cuddley Poops. (It's the name Sokka gave that one little saber-tooth moose thingy, so I didn't come up with it) :D BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! ChubChub SparkleNinja the III? I love that! :D I'm totally gonna get a dog and name it that! :P Yes! You may definitely have cookies. You know what? EVERYONE GETS COOKIES! :D Yay yay! :P**

**the-spider-queen: Don't worry, my little kumquat. All will be answered at the end of the story. It's sort of like Inception where you have soooooo many questions until the end of the movie... :) Yes, yes he can. :P Well, I don't know if he actually _would_ in front of anyone, but I though it would make a nice part to the story. :D**

**AngelBreeze: Hm. So many questions! :) Okay, you'll find out, no one knows, thank you, and you will also find that out. :) Why, thank you. :P**

**AlexAlmighty: Just log in! :D You're making me laugh whenever you review. :) Oh, and BlackRoseAtMidnight just confirmed my suspicions. YOU'RE FROM INDIANA TOO! Honestly, I didn't think I'd meet anyone else who was... Hm. :P**

**Okay, so I'd like to thank the anonymous person who made the cookies possible—bgfg. She provided the heat for baking them by flaming me (seriously, I sizzled after reading her review...), so if you're reading this, thank you.**

**Now on with the story! xD**

***Beta- This is the longest Author's Note EVER! Good job, Jr.**

_~L~_

"Okay, okay, just stop pacing, Ian. Gosh," Abbigale said. They were in the woods near Carter's memorial. Ian had brought her here so he could talk to someone about Isabel's letter, and she was the best advice-giver he knew. "Just show me the letter."

He stopped pacing for a second to hand her the letter. She took it and opened it.

_Amelia:_

_I'm not going to drone on and on and never get to the real point of things; _

_I'm just going to be straightforward with you. It's true. I am a Vesper, and _

_I'm the only reason you have wings. For years I did experiments on my son,_

_messing with gene codes and molecular structures. Around the time you were _

_seven, I made a breakthrough. I figured out how to change the genes in a human_

_to force their body be a winged being, and you were my guinea pig. I just never_

_thought that my own son would imprint on you and ruin everything by going_

_to that horrid camp. You were to be my prize, my offering to the Vespers. My fallen_

_honor was to be redeemed, but I suppose it won't work out exactly how I had_

_originally planned. I have a proposition for you. I'm currently holding your_

_annoying brother, Daniel, hostage. If you come to me and give yourself up, I'll_

_gladly release him. I won't struggle or trick you. You have a Kabra's word. I'm_

_located at the Vespers' camp. It's about twenty miles southwest from where we know your_

_silly little camp is. Don't even think about bringing an invasion force, or I'll_

_kill him before you can even say "Oops." I hope you accept my humble offer, or_

_you'll be wishing you had._

_**-**Isabel Kabra_

Abbigale's eyes were wide with shock. "And...and how did you get this exactly?"

"Well, I was in the barn, thinking some stuff through, and I saw this really big bird in the rafters. It was an eagle, and he had that letter attached to his leg. I thought that was odd because we only have hawks here at camp, so I took the letter off of his leg and read it. And here I am, standing in front of you, asking for advice."

"Hm... the question is what to do now."

Ian stopped pacing and faced her. "Why the heck do you think I'm here?"

"Hey, hey. Calm down! Don't get yourself so worked up."

"It's just that if Amy finds out, she'll go charging over there without thinking because her brother's life is at stake and she'll get herself killed. I can't let that happen!"

"We'll figure out something. I'm sure of it. We could...send an invasion force," Abbigale suggested.

"Didn't you read the letter? It said, and I quote, 'Don't even think about bringing an invasion force, or I'll kill him before you can even say "Oops." ' We can't do that."

"I'll sleep on it, okay?"

The Lucian rubbed his forehead and nodded. "Here," she said, offering him an Advil. "It'll get rid of the headaches."

He took it. "Thanks," he said, and, with that, he walked off.

He popped the pill into his mouth and swallowed. Everything was so stressful. He knew one thing for sure. He did _not_ want Amy to be stressed out too. It was his fault that she was even here in the first place. He folded up the letter and stuck it in his jeans' back pocket.

Ian walked through the camp to the Lucian section and went inside his tent. There, Amy was rearranging his books so they were in alphabetical order by author. She turned around when she heard him come in and beamed at him when she saw his face.

"Hi," she said sweetly. "I hope you don't mind; I'm sorting things out. The disorganization in here is kinda bothering me."

The Kabra shrugged. "It was put up when I was ten, so it probably hasn't changed much since then. New clothes have been put in it, but that's pretty much it."

She shot him a playful smirk. "So I noticed," she said while holding up a book titled _Bambi Grows Up_.

His eyes widened. "Oh, so _that's_ where that went. Huh, I was looking for that for the longest time."

Amy raised an eyebrow.

"What? It was my favorite book as a child!"

"Don't you think ten is a bit too old to be reading _Bambi Grows Up_?"

He shrugged. "Yeah, probably."

Amy gave him a strange look, but turned back around and kept sorting through his things. Ian saw her suddenly stop moving and went over to see what it was she was holding. His eyes widened with shock when he saw what it was. In her hand was a box, and in the box was a small collection of pictures from his childhood. _Why in the world is _that _here? I thought I put that behind lock and key!_ he fumed to himself.

Her eyes scanned the pictures as she picked up each one. There weren't that many in the box, but they were such cute pictures. One was of Ian and Vikram flying kites together in their backyard, and another one was Ian and Natalie playing tag in their hedge maze. There was a family picture in there too, and Isabel was smiling. She was actually _smiling_.

"Okay, let's not get too carried away here," Ian said awkwardly as he gently pulled the pictures out of her hands.

He picked up the whole box, inserted the pictures that he had taken from Amy and hid it behind his back. She looked up at him with a bit of a hurt expression on her face, but quietly obeyed him by exiting the tent.

Ian sighed with relief and put the lid back on the box. He then put it way back in the corner of the tent and plopped a bunch of clothes on top. He walked out of his tent, not knowing that Isabel's letter had accidentally fallen in the box.

_~L~_

Ian, Amy, Abbigale, Drew, Austin, and Julianna were all sitting in a tent again that night. They were all happy to see that Drew was back from the hospital, and that he had recovered quite nicely. Now, he was as lively and happy as ever. Most of it was probably just because he was back by Abbigale's side again. That boy was extremely attached to her... It was almost scary.

"Okay, so since we only got to do one round of Truth or Dare last time, I say that we play it again today," Julianna suggested, her blueish-green eyes sparkling with mischief.

Everyone dutifully agreed, so the blonde-haired girl dubbed herself as the first person to go. "Let's see... Drewcipher, truth or dare?"

The boy rolled his eyes and thought for a moment. "Dare."

The medic smiled evilly. "So be it. I dare you to attempt to do ballet while creating music with your nose! Oh, and it _has_ to be Beethoven's ninth."

Drew contorted his face as if saying "Darnit!", but stayed silent. He simply got up, started his nostril music, and began to dance. It was probably one of the most hilarious things that Amy or Ian had ever seen. His ballet was _so_ horrible, and that's what made it hysterical. Julianna's face was bright red from laughing so hard, and Abbigale and Austin were practically rolling on the ground with tears of mirth in their eyes.

He stopped dancing and turned to his darer. "Happy?"

Julianna stopped laughing for a second and sported a straight, unhappy face. "I'm never happy."

"Oh, shut up. You're such a Zuko," he said as he sat down. He narrowed his eyes and scanned the room. "Hmmm. Jujuice, truth or dare."

The young medic rolled her eyes. "Revenge? Real mature. Well, after what you just did, I'll pick truth."

"Hmmm..." Drew stroked his chin as if he were a guru with an actual beard. His eyes lit up after a second of thinking. "Why don't you tell everyone about your little threat that you gave me."

She sighed. "I've given you a lot of threats, Gracie."

"The one you gave me if I ever hurt Abbi."

Julianna sighed yet again. "Fine. I told Drew that if he ever hurt Abbigale, I would first castrate him and then hang him up by his thumbs and drill holes in his feet until he bled out. Then after he was dead, I'd burn his body and sprinkle his blood on the ashes..."

"Are you sure you're not emo?" Ian asked. Julianna just chuckled and shook her head.

"Empty threats are meant to creep, that's all. Now, Ian, truth or dare?"

"Dare. I really don't feel like telling another embarrassing story about my life again."

"Okay, I dare you to go outside and scream 'BACON IS ATTACKING!' and then dive into a bush and see how many people come out of their tents screaming."

Ian rubbed his temples. Why did that girl have to be so good at coming up with stupid stuff to do? He stood up and went outside. When he got out there he took a deep breath and yelled at the top of his lungs. "BACON IS ATTACKING!"

After that he dove into a nearby shrub and hid while some people yelled at him to shut up and others stuck their heads out of their tents and looked around to make sure that he was lying. Some people in that camp were theoretical skitzo's, so it was funny to see their reaction.

A couple rounds of Truth or Dare later, everyone was exhausted and decided to go to sleep. They all parted their separate ways and went back to their tents. Amy and Ian ran into the same problem that they had the last time. Who was going to sleep where?

"You sleep in the tent this time. I did last time, and besides, it's your tent."

Ian shook his head. "You go ahead. I'm going to go for a midnight fly anyway."

Amy shrugged and walked into his tent. She changed into a pair of shorts and one of Ian's shirts. It was way oversized on her, but she like the way it smelled. She might be a bit creepy, but clover was her favorite scent now. She was about to settle in under the covers when something in the corner of the tent caught her eye. It was a large pile of clothes that definitely hadn't been that way before.

Curious, Amy crawled over to the pile and sorted through the various clothing. At the bottom, she found Ian's picture box. A huge smile broke out on her face. She had been dying to look at the rest of those pictures all day. She eagerly opened the lid, stopping short when she noticed a small, white folded-up piece of paper on the top. That hadn't been there before either. She was positive.

She picked up the piece of paper and unfolded it. What she saw inside drained the blood from her face.

_~L~_

**Yay! Chapter sixteen is done! :P Whew! A few months ago, I never would've even imagined that I'd accomplish so much. :D This chapter is dedicated to everyone who lives in Indiana. :P (Yes, Drewcipher, that means you too...)**

**Okay, so I have a few questions. This is more of a way to get the audience involved than an answer for any questions that I actually have. Though, some of them are. **

**-Should Amy reveal her knowledge immediately and just plan by herself or have an outburst because Ian didn't tell her?**

**-Should Ian and Amy kiss again?**

**-Should anyone else kiss? (Such as Abbigale and Drew or Julianna and Austin)**

**-In the end, do you think Austin should live or die?**

**-Do you want cookies instead of peanut butter?**

**-Would you like fries with that?**

**Okay, so please answer my questions, and I'll try to update sooner! xD**

**~Sugar**

***Beta- Yes! I would like fries with that! Okay, people, I've been through proverbial English boot camp, so if anything's wrong grammatically, I take full responsibility. This chappie has been officially... *drumroll* BETA'D! BAM!**

**p.s.- Vote for cookies! So much better than peanut butter!**

**~KMXII~**


	17. Time to Make a Move

**(sigh) (facepalm) Okay, so I'd like to start off by saying that I had no idea that my beta would actually comment on my story. -_- Second, I'm so sorry for not updating! I've been busy. (sniffles) :'( I is sowwy. And third, I'm getting sick (my beta gave me her horrible disease), so if KMXII doesn't catch something that I put down, it's probably wrong because I'm coughing, so I take responsibility for that.**

**belle: Oh my gosh! You're a big fan of mine? :D I feel so wanted. :) I 3 you too! :P**

**Now on with the story! xD (Oh, yeah. Goddess of Air, thanks a whole bunch for telling me about the line divider thing, but I like the whole**_**~L~ **_**thing. It's kinda symbolic…**)

_~L~_

Amy sat there, frozen in fear. Her hands shook, and her blood felt cold as ice. _Dan, _she thought. _He's in danger. I have to go get him! I don't care if she gets me instead! But… how will I pull it off? How will I slip past Ian…? Ian. IAN! That… that… SNAKE! He kept this from me! I should go outside right now and punch him in the face! No… I can't. I have to plan this quietly. I have to go in secret. I'll just wait until he comes back and falls asleep. Yes, that'll work._

Amy lay down on the cushy sleeping bag and lay there in wait for her back-stabbing Guardian to come back.

_~L~_

Ian soared through the night sky. He simply loved to fly when it was nighttime. The darkness shadowed his every movement from possible watchers, and the moon guided his flight path. It was perfect and beautiful. It helped him get his mind off of the world below him. All he could think about up there was the wind in his hair and feathers and the twinkling stars that reminded him of Amy's eyes when she smiled.

Feeling refreshed and happy, he lost altitude and landed quietly beside his tent. He walked over to the front of it and opened the flap. Amy was lying beneath the covers of his sleeping bag, and she was sleeping soundly. He smiled as he noticed that she was wearing one of his shirts. She was so cute and sentimental sometimes. His eyes drifted over to the pile of clothes in the corner. It was still in place. Good. She hadn't found the box yet. He'd have to bury it tomorrow.

He glanced at Amy one more time before turning around and lying down in a patch of grass near the tent where his body had made an indention the night before. He curled up in his wings and warded off the chill of the night. As he drifted off to sleep, he looked up at the stars and couldn't help but imagine their being green.

_~L~_

Jade green eyes peeked out from behind the open tent flap and reconnoitered the silent camp grounds. Ian was sleeping where he should be. She slipped quietly from the tent and tiptoed all the way to the woods. There, she let herself relax a bit and climbed the first tree that she saw. Once she got to the top, she held her breath and plunged toward the ground below. She then unfurled her wings and gained altitude rapidly. It was time to go get her baby brother back.

_~L~_

Ian woke up to the birds chirping and the sun shining on his face. He stretched out on his back and sat up sleepily. Waking up was getting harder and harder as the days went by. _It must just be all the stress, _he mused to himself.

He stood up and strolled over to his tent. He opened the flap and wasn't surprised when she wasn't there. He must've just slept in a bit. He walked calmly to the medic tent where he found Julianna rushing around, putting things in order. No one was sick or injured, but it looked like she was making a huge batch of the antidote they had made for the new poison Amy had almost died from. "You can never be too careful" was always her motto. Either that or "Candy is dandy, but fruit helps you poop." She was one weird kid.

"Good morning, Ian," the medic said without even turning around from her work. "What brings you to my clinic on this fine day?"

"Stop talking all fancy. It's unnatural for a twelve-year-old. I'm looking for Amy. Have you seen her?"

Julianna stopped moving and turned around slowly to face Ian with a strange look on her face. "No. I would assume that _you_ would know where she is."

A small fit of panic rose in Ian's throat, but he pushed it back. "Well, do you know where she might be?"

The blonde shook her head, turned back around, and began to work in her poisons lab again. "No. _You _do, though. She's a part of you now. Just think about her, and her location will come to you."

Ian ran his fingers through his hair nervously, not even noting Julianna's last comment. This was no big deal, right? She could've just taken a walk in the woods or something, or maybe he had just not seen her in the tent. She _did_ have a tendency to snuggle deep down in the covers. He was freaking out for nothing.

He forced himself to stride placidly back to his tent and walk in. He could plainly see that she wasn't there. Where on earth could she be? Then his blood became ice in his veins as the realization came to him. He felt his back pocket. The letter wasn't there. In a panic, he tore through the tent. There in the corner, he found that cursed piece of paper. It had obviously been opened and then folded back up again. The corners were bent, and there were signs that the reader had gripped the paper tightly. It was then that he knew that Amy had found Isabel's letter.

He crumpled up the letter and flung it against the thin canvas wall of the tent. Anger rose in his chest, taking over his mind and clouding his sensibility. All he could think about was getting Amy back to camp and making sure Isabel didn't lay a finger on his foolish Seraph.

He leaped out of the tent, and with one strong stroke of his wings, he was soaring through the skies at an incredible rate. With rage as his motivation, he took one more powerful beat of his wings and was thrust into a speed he didn't know existed.

_~L~_

Amy glided alongside the shy cirrus clouds at a good speed. She was tired and weary, but her determination kept her going. There was no way she was going to stop to take a break when her brother's life was on the line. She wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead and pushed herself even harder and faster.

Her breathing was coming in gasps, and the ground was starting to look extremely tempting. _NO!_ she internally yelled. _There's no way I can stop now! Dan will die if I don't get there fast enough! There's no telling how long Ian kept that letter a secret from me._

She was starting to lose altitude, and the ground was getting closer and closer when something massive hit her from the side. It was going at an incredible speed toward the ground with her on the bottom. A wave of panic washed over Amy as she looked back and saw the lush green grass only yards away. At the last second, though, whatever was propelling her toward the ground suddenly spun them around so that she was facing the sky. They hit the ground, and dirt flew away from them at the great impact, leaving a crater in the ground.

"WHAT ON EARTH DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!" Ian screamed after he had pinned her down.

Amy recoiled in shock and fear. His eyes were ablaze with pure rage, and his strength was immense. He had her pinned down so tightly that her wings couldn't even move behind her back. It was an extremely uncomfortable position, but Ian didn't really take notice.

"Ian, you're hurting me," she gasped between cries of pain and gulps for air. His expression didn't change, but he loosened his grip a bit, letting Amy's wings have a bit of freedom.

"Don't you ever run away from camp like that again," he commanded, his voice calmer than before.

"Do you even hear yourself? You're talking to me like I'm a five-year-old! I'm a teenager with a mind and a family of her own!"

"I'm just treating you according to the way you act. That was a horribly stupid move you almost made!"

"I know it was stupid, but I have to save my brother!"

"Look, I know how you feel, but you can't just go rushing out there into enemy territory."

"What should I do, make a strategy? That's the point! There _is_ no strategy. I'm going to give myself up to your mother in exchange for my brother."

Ian's eyes flashed with momentary anger. "She may have given birth to me, but she was _never_ my mother. And you can't just do that. She'll kill you!"

"So? What do I care?"

Her Guardian looked genuinely hurt. "Have you forgotten already? If you die, I die."

Amy stopped struggling against his strong grip and relaxed on the ground. How could she have been so stupid to forget? Still, this was her baby brother that was concerned. No offense to Ian, but Dan was more important at the moment. She looked away from him, unable to tell him her thoughts.

"It's useless, Amy. I know what you're thinking," he said as he got up from on top of her, letting her free. Amy started to take off, but she stopped short after only one threatening glare from Ian.

Amy ran her fingers through her hair and started pacing. "I'm sorry. I really am, but I just… it's just…"

"I understand. He's your brother, and you love him." Amy nodded.

Ian turned with his back toward her. "That still doesn't change how I feel about you. You know that, right?" the red-head asked.

The Kabra stood completely still as if he were a statue. The only sign that he was a living being was his hair blowing slightly in the wind. It had gotten longer over the weeks and now reached his eyes. She came up next to him and looked at his face. His eyes were narrowed slightly in thought, and his mouth was curved downward in a frown. Amy leaned against him with her head on his shoulder and slipped her hand into his. His frown disappeared, but he still seemed to be lost in thought. "Please say something. I want to know what you're thinking."

He sighed before answering. ""I was just coming up with a way to get in there, get Dan, and get out."

Amy was taken aback. "What? D-Does that mean that you're going to help me get Dan back?"

The Lucian nodded begrudgingly. "If I can't stop you, I might as well help you."

She beamed at him and gave him a huge hug. "You're amazing!"

He sighed yet again and hugged her back. "I know" was all he said. They pulled away but stayed at arms' lengths and looked at each other. It was the perfect moment. All Ian had to do was lean, and their lips were touching again. A shock wave of electricity pulsated up and down Amy's spine from her lips. It wasn't a kiss like last time in the hayloft. No, it was much different. Ian's kisses were full of passion and emotion but had no ill will, simply a pure feeling of love and admiration. Amy kissed him back with just as much feeling and passion. It was a moment of complete peace, a moment made for expression of emotion and nothing else. After a while, though, they were forced to pull apart for air. She beamed at him, while he just smiled stupidly like a love-struck drunkard in a trance. Amy laughed at him.

Ian snapped out of his trance and kicked his mind into high gear again. "We need to get moving. We should probably fly until we come across a forest or something. Trees will give us better cover from the elements."

Amy nodded and followed her Guardian as he took off and headed for the skies. They flew side by side for a couple hours until Amy started feeling tired and fatigued. Ian noticed quickly and asked what was wrong.

"It's nothing. I've just been flying for a really long time. That's all."

He looked away from her and set his eyes on the horizon, not assured of her health. "Maybe we should call it a day. Or at least take a long break."

"No! I want to keep going!" she exclaimed.

He didn't reply but simply shook his head and started his descent toward a nearby patch of trees. "Ian, stop it! I want to keep going!"

He didn't respond to her pleading and soon landed gracefully on the ground. This forced Amy to follow suit. She really didn't feel like being all alone for a whole night. Ian began kindling a fire and making the patch of trees as comfy as possible. The red-head sat down by the campfire, brought her knees to her chin, and folded her arms in front of them. Ian sat down beside her and stared into the dancing flames. They sat in silence for a while until Amy finally said something.

"I'm sorry that I left you without any warning at all, but I just… have to do this."

"It's okay. I figured you would sooner or later."

"What do you mean?"

The boy shrugged. "I don't know. I just had a feeling. I knew that after you grew your wings you would be much more independent. I had a feeling that you would just up and leave one day. I just never expected that day to be so soon."

"I would never leave you without a good reason. You know that, right?"

He nodded but didn't look at her. "I do now."

She smiled sweetly and kissed him on the cheek before getting up and walking into their small covering of trees. She paused before her body completely disappeared behind the foliage and turned back around halfway.

"I… I l-love y-you, Ian."

He beamed at her. "I love you, too."

She envied his strong voice and lack of stuttering. "Don't hate your stutter so much. I think it's absolutely adorable."

She sighed in exasperation. "I keep forgetting that you can read my thoughts!"

He laughed heartily. "Go now. Sleep. You're going to need it for tomorrow."

_~L~_

**Whew! Done! :D Okay, so I just wanted to tell you guys that I'm so, so sorry for the super long wait! I felt so guilty about it that I downloaded this chapter onto a flash-drive and took it everywhere I went this weekend until it was done. It was kind of a hassle, but it was totally worth it for you guys! :P Read and review please!**

**~Sugar**

**Beta: (waves) Hello, I'm filling in for Kiminator Mark XII… Don't worry, I'm very competent. I think. O.o Anyway, now that you readers have read this wonderful story, you should review and tell SugarQueen what you thought! We really put a lot of work into this… OK, mostly her, but you get it.**

**-3VAD127**


	18. The Raid Begins

**Okay, guys. I'm really sorry for not updating very fast. I've just been really stressed out about various things. One of them is out of the way, but with that gone, it only made the other thing seem so much bigger and menacing... -_- So yeah, I'm having a pre-teen crisis here. Oh, and this chappie is unbeta'd because of...various things. The next chapter probably will be, but if you find any mistakes, please don't point them out. I'm not in the mood... :(**

**Me: Let's see... Eenie, meenie, minie, Dan. You do the disclaimer. There hasn't been one in a while.**

**Dan: What? No way! I am NOT doing the stupid stuff that you don't wanna do. Besides, why should I?**

**Me: It's not stupid, and you'll do it because I'M the author. What I say, goes. Get it?**

**Dan: *scratches head* Eh, not really.**

**Me: *facepalm* Don't make me make you. *glare***

**Dan: What are you gonna do? Type me to death?**

**Me: That CAN be arranged, but I was thinking more along the lines of I'll sic my invisible ninja cats on you if you don't do the stupid disclaimer!**

**Dan: No. Not the cats! Not after last time! I'll do it! I'll do it! SugarQueen8490 doesn't own the 39 Clues. If she did, even the THOUGHT of Natan wouldn't even exist.**

**Me: Thank you, Dan. :P Now on with the story! xD**

_~L~_

"Okay, so here's the scoop. I don't really have a plan as of right now, so we're mostly going to wing it from now on. The main thing is to get out alive and with Dan. Is everything transparent?" Ian said as he and Amy drifted on the wind currents that morning.

"Crystalline," Amy replied.

He nodded and looked on toward the rising sun. Amy noted the determined look in his eyes and the way each stroke of his wings was full of resolve and purpose. There had always been those type of traits in his personality, but she had never really stopped to notice. Now, as she looked back, she could see the way he walked with a proud look on his face but with a subtle hint of understanding and humility. She could see the hint of remorse in his amber eyes when the cave door had closed in Korea. She could see the spark of admiration that had glistened in his eyes when he had looked at her while his mother was gone. Each of these traits that had been so subtly hinted before now shone through with vigor and energy.

Ian caught Amy looking at him and smiled when she blushed. "You have good traits as well, you know. And thank you. I'm glad that you finally noticed."

She groaned in frustration at her horrible memory span. She just could NOT remember that he could tell what she thought and felt. "Really? Like what?"

He smirked. "Well, to start off, you're absolutely gorgeous. You're compassionate, kind, understanding of other people's feelings, and super smart. I love your laugh and the way stars remind me of your pretty eyes. Your stutter is completely adorable; your independence is awe-inspiring; and I love how you wear my shirts to bed, but most of all, I love your _im_perfections."

Amy lingered in the warm glow of his affectionate complements. He was just so flippin' sweet sometimes! The past Clue hunt seemed like nothing more than a distant memory covered by the mist of forgetfulness.

She smiled and thought more of his words until she saw a dark mass in the horizon. She gasped. "Ian, is...i-is that th-the c-camp?"

"Well, seeing as though it's in the shape of a giant _V_, I would assume so."

"Oh, shut up. You know that I can't see as well or as far as you can."

He smirked irksomely. "That's why _I'm_ the Guardian, love."

Amy said nothing but simply rolled her eyes. They got closer to than camp and landed when they were about a mile away. "Okay, well, we're going to want to sneak in when it's dark, so we should wait for nightfall," Ian stated.

Amy readily agreed, and the waiting began.

_~L~_

" 'Easy come, easy go. That's just how you live, oh. Take, take, take it all, but you never give. Should've known you was trouble from the first kiss. You had your eyes wide open. Why were they open?' " Julianna sang as her iPod blared in her ears. Abbigale squealed in recognition and joined in on the horrible karaoke.

The four of them were gathered in Drew's tent in the middle of the Janus section. Abbigale's tent was right next door, but Drew's was more spacious. There were various instruments cluttered in the area including a guitar, a trumpet, a keyboard, and a violin, making the tent seem smaller. Drew was sitting next to Abbigale, holding her hand while getting a death glare from Julianna. With the way the medic acted, you'd think that _she _was Abbigale's Guardian, and she always claimed to be in some respects. The blonde girl swatted Drew's hand away and made sure their knees weren't touching when they were sitting "_so unbearably close_" as Julianna put it. Drew rolled his eyes but didn't protest, for he knew that it was futile.

"Hey, Juju! We should do a duet type thing!" the brunette suggested. "We should, like, be a band or something. You can sing, and I'll play the guitar."

The medic agreed, and Abbigale grabbed a guitar. Before long, a sweet melody was drifting through the air and relaxing everyone's tense muscles. Julianna just started singing words off the top of her head.

"Don't wake me from my sleep. I'm dreaming of you.

So sweet were they, dear, they changed my world views.

Instead of seeing sorrow when I see the color gray,

I see the world a different way. Yeah.

When I now see a begger, dying on the streets

I see a world of people I'll never meet.

When I see the rain falling, I see a rainbow.

I think of the way that I love you so.

When I see the world dying, I see rejoicing souls.

And when I see the glaciers melting, I see you heart, no longer cold."

When the words stopped pouring from her lips, Abbigale lowered the guitar and beamed at Julianna.  
"That was great, Juju. Good band practice! Whoohoo!"

Julianna just chuckled and shook her head. Austin looked up from the book he had been reading to smile at his beloved Seraph, but he frowned the moment he looked up. "Hey, guys. Where are Ian and Amy?"

Drew looked surprised like the thought had never even occurred to him. "Yeah, I've been wondering that, too," the young medic responded.

"Of course you did," Abbigale's Guardian replied with a hint of false bitterness. Julianna just scoffed at him and looked back at Austin.

"Did you see them any time today?"

Austin replied with a negative movement of his head. "Not at all."

The blonde girl looked into the distance, lost in thought. Suddenly, her expression darkened, and a deep frown marred her facial features. She turned slowly to look at Abbigale. "Ian met with you in the woods once, did he not? He told me he wanted to discuss something with you, to...get some advice?"

The other girl's eyes widened, and she put her hands up to shield herself from Julianna's leaning figure. "What are you implying?"

"Nothing..._yet_. What did he want to talk about?"

"I-I can't tell you. He made me promise not to tell anyone," Abbigale claimed with a miserable look on her face. The brunette knew what was coming, and she dreaded it.

"Oh, you can bend the rules just this once, can't you," Julia stated as more of a command than a question. The rebel medic was right up in Abbigale's face now. Their noses were just inches apart, and the blonde had one of her hands on the collar of Abbigale's shirt. She would never hurt her, though, and Drew knew that. He stayed out of the way, assured of his Seraph's safety.

"Tell. Me. What. He. Said," Julianna firmly commanded.

Abbigale sighed and complied begrudgingly. "Fine. He just showed me this letter from his psychotic mother saying that Amy needed to give herself up to her or her brother would die. He asked me for advice."

Julianna leaned back from her looming position over Abbigale and stared at the ground with a deep frown on her face. She bit her thumb until it started to bleed a bit, but she didn't seem to really either notice or care. Her frown deepened as her thought process continued. Then all of a sudden, her facial expression was ablaze with fury, and she promptly shot to her feet.

"Those...those...FOOLS! How could they? Don't they know how rash and stupid what they're doing is! Ugh!"

Abbigale stood up to put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Juju? Is everything okay?"

"This could've been prevented! Why didn't you tell anyone? They're going to get themselves killed!"

"I-I don't know! He...he just told me not to tell anyone about it. I didn't know it would be so important. I'm so sorry!"

The medic shot Abbigale a fierce glare. The brunette shrunk back against the intensity of her best friends look, taking her hand off her shoulder. It had taken her by surprise. "Julianna, don't glare at her! She didn't know!" Drew said, taking his Seraph's hand.

She didn't respond, but her glare softened slightly. "How long have you known?"

"Just since yesterday."

"We have to tell the direc-"

"NO!" Abbigale shouted, interrupting Julianna's statement. "We can't! I-I don't want to be kicked out of camp for harboring information!"

"Ian and Amy's _lives_ are at stake here! They could die! No, I take that back. They _will_ die if we don't do something about this."

The brunette looked down at her hands and played with her thumbs. "I...I can't. I'm sorry."

Julianna didn't say anything, but her body language said a whole lot to tell that she was majorly frustrated. She stood with her back perfectly erect, spun on her heal, and walked out of the tent. When she got outside she started running and flung herself into the air, her wings taking on a regular beating pattern. The wind whistled in her ears, seeming to whisper in them. She landed gracefully on a pine tree branch about forty feet above the ground and sat there, deep in thought.

_My best friend is too weak. Without her Guardian, she'd never make it in the world,_ she decided. _If she were ever faced with the tragedy of losing him, she'd lose herself within her own sorrows. _

She shook her head and tried to rid herself of such thoughts. Why was it that these days whatever she thought about always came back to the same thing? Carter. Maybe she had been more traumatized by the experience than she had originally thought. She brought her knees to her chest and rested her chin on them.

Suddenly, she heard something, a faint rustling of leaves in the distance. Untrained ears would never have caught such a minute disturbance in her quiet atmosphere, but all of her Ekat training had sharpened her senses. She launched herself off of the tree branch and parachuted with her wings down to the forest floor. The medic slithered through the foliage, using the trees' shadows as a natural camouflage.

She came to the edge of a little clearing where she saw a man standing with an eagle on his shoulder. She narrowed her eyes so she could see his attire better. She stifled a gasp when she saw a black _V _emblemed on his shirt. He was attaching something the eagle's leg. _It's obviously a messenger eagle, _she deduced. Whatever the message was, she wanted to know what it said.

The girl was about to leap out of the clearing and take him down by surprise, but she stopped when she noticed the gun that rested in its holster by his side. It would be impossible to take him down. If he had a gun just hanging in plain sight, then who knew how many more weapons he had on him? She backed away from the clearing and slunk back into the woods. If she knew anything about messenger birds, she knew exactly where it would go.

_~L~_

"Well, that was weird. We were all friends five minutes ago!" Austin pointed out. "She just...left."

"That, my psychedelic friend, is the drama llama rearing its ugly head," Drew said with a completely serious expression on his face.

"I'm...psychedelic?"

"No, but that's not the point."

"So...what _is_ the point?"

"There is no point. I just really felt like using the word psychedelic..."

Austin didn't reply but just shook his head in mock dismay. "Why is she so mad all the time?" Abbigale asked, disrupting the silence with her voice for the first time since her friend had left.

Austin shook his head again. "Something's been bothering her for the past couple of weeks. I guess the fact that her new friends are in danger just set her off. I can tell that ever since Ian and Amy came to the camp she's been a ticking time bomb of nerves. She's always looking over her shoulder and averting her eyes to the darkest corners of the room, as if something were after her."

Drew just shrugged. "She'll get over it soon I'm sure."

Austin gazed at the darkening sky in a gap between the two flaps of Drew's tent. "I hope you're right, Drew. I surely do hope."

_~L~_

Ian crouched on a hill overlooking the Vespers' base camp. It was almost nightfall. Soon it would be dark enough to sneak in without being seen. Amy crouched next to him, a determined look on her face. The stakes were so high for her. She had an enormous load of pressure on her shoulders. If her little brother died, she'd never forgive herself; if she died, Ian would, too; if Ian died, she'd be alone in the world without a protector. He couldn't imagine the stress of it all.

She always stood strong, though, with her head held high and a fire in her eyes. That's the characteristic that had first caught his eyes when he had met her for the very first time all those years ago.

"So are we going to go in soon?" Amy asked, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Yeah. It's almost dark. We'll be able to sneak in soon. My guess is they have guards all around the camp. Each one should be, according to the size of the camp, about a hundred yards apart. I'm guessing they march from post to post to cover all the ground and yet only need a few guards. There seems to be a blind spot right at the very point of the _V, _the part of the formation that's closest to us. Now, I'm making an educated guess here, but it looks as if the guards that are on either side of the point face away from each other as they're both going to the posts a hundred yards down. This is a very fatal flaw in their system because there's a ten minute window where no one is looking at the point. That's when we're going to get in. Got it?"

Amy didn't respond but just nodded grimly. The rising moon was casting lunar shadows on her face, giving her an intimidating look. She was ready to kill to get her little brother back.

"It's about time. Are you ready to go, Amy?" Ian asked. There was a long pause before Amy responded.

"Let's do this."

_~L~_

***sigh* I apologize. It's such an uneventful chapter, but I had a request from no one in particular... *cough* Oh, and I'm so sorry about all the late postings lately! :'O I don't want to post so late, but so much is going on in my life right now that it's really hard to juggle it all AND update very soon. I send my greatest apologies. :'(**

**So random story time! xD Okay, so I was really super high Sunday night. So I was texting my friend and doing llama impressions and things of that sort like any normal high person would. So he was like "Are you in one of your high-on-crack moods?" and I said "What? Pfft! No! I didn't have time to do crack! I was too busy cuddling a duck on my couch!" and then the conversation went on from there. So the next day we were talking about it, and he was like "So you were seriously snuggling a duck? What is it with that duck?" and I was like "Story time!" because I was going to tell him a backstory about the duck. Yeah...he totally took it the wrong way and told everyone I know that I spend my Sunday evenings cuddling ducks and reading them stories... -_- I really want to hit him right now.**

**Well, that's pretty much it. Oh, wait! There was this anonymous person who didn't even put in a name for the review, and I was born with a natural curiosity so I really want to know who that person is. That's all! :P Thank you for reading that long, hairy author's note! :D**

**~Sugar**


	19. That's Just Unfortunate

**OK, guys. Now, I know some of you might be in a huge hurry and can't leave me a review, but, seriously, the number of reviews I got for chapter 18 was just pathetic and disappointing. I got four, people. FOUR. So I give a special thanks to bookgirl39, Alex Almighty, my BFF, Fufu Cuddley Poops, and theotherusernamesweretaken. Guys, you don't have to be a member to review. ANYONE can do it. All you have to do is click that button down there and type. PLEASE.**

**Disclaimer: SugarQueen8490 doesn't own _The 39 Clues_.**

_~L~_

Julianna sat in the hayloft out of sight of passers-by. She stared blankly at the creamy white piece of paper in her hands. Had she really just read that? She read it again.

_Amelia Cahill:_

_Time is running out for your pathetic brother. I repeat the location of our camp. It's twenty miles southwest of your camp. Hurry, or he'll die._

_-Isabel Kabra_

Isabel _Kabra? _Ian's mother. Julianna wracked her brain for information concerning the subject. She cried out in frustration. She was only half Ekat, after all, so her brain couldn't quite recall everything she had learned, and her strategic form of thinking wasn't quite as keen as her Guardian's. She got up from her sitting position and paced rapidly in the small space she had cleared for herself in the hay. Moving around had always boosted her thinking capacity by approximately forty percent.

_Isabel said she was __**repeating**_ _the location of the camp. She must've sent another letter that Amy had gotten, read, and reacted to, _Julianna mused internally. _She mentioned that time was running out for Amy's brother. If her brother means anything to her, she must've panicked about his grave situation and made irrational movements—going to save her brother. Ian, being the good Guardian that he is, must've found out about her leaving the camp and has gone to get her back. Knowing Ian, he wouldn't have wanted Amy to continue with the dangerous mission, but somehow he got persuaded into doing it. Ian's a very smart person. If he read the previous letter and saw that Isabel had given the coordinates to__ the Vesper camp, he would've been instantly suspicious as I am now. This means that Isabel only gave them the location of the camp so that they would be lured into a trap, but Isabel is smarter than that. It's so obviously a trap that it's not even funny. So maybe they saw that, thought higher of her intelligence, and erased the suspicions of a trap. Isabel was probably planning on that. So that concludes to the fact that it is most definitely a trap._

The young medic plopped down on the floor and huffed, blowing her bangs away from her indecisive eyes. It took so much effort to think on such a high level! Her mind then wandered to other matters. Ian and Amy were heading straight into a trap and probably didn't know it. Oh, what to do, what to do. She brought her thumb to her teeth and bit down hard. The skin broke away, and blood started trickling into her mouth between her lips. The salty substance coated her tongue, causing a bad taste in her mouth. She didn't care, though. It was such a good stress reliever.

She sighed and brought her thumb out from between her two rows of teeth. Bleeding wouldn't help Amy and Ian. Nothing would except for instant action. Who was going to act, though? Who was going to warn them of their impending doom? And yet again, she had to take matters into her own hands.

She took a picture from her pocket and gazed at it with longing eyes. It was a worn picture of her family at Disney World. Her dad was standing beside her mom, holding her hand. Her two sisters were on either side of her with huge smiles plastered on their faces, and she was in the front with a stupid pirate Mickey hat on. They all seemed so happy, even her. Her dad's light blue eyes didn't hold scorn, and her mother's green ones didn't foster disappointment like they had when she had last been with them.

_~flashback~_

_Julianna slithered though the darkness, making sure she was as quiet as possible. She slipped through hall after hall of priceless marble busts and original paintings from who-knows-where. She finally came to the spiraling staircase that led to each of the three floors in her house. She padded silently down to the first floor of her house and passed through two more hallways. _

_She came to the last door of the last hallway in her house and froze. She could hear the quiet murmurings of her parents as they discussed certain events. Oh, how she longed to go in there and hug her mother one last time! Oh, how she wished with all her heart that she could just hear her father say that he loved her before she left! She couldn't, though. She could **never**_ _look back. Her feet unfroze from their position and carried her swiftly into the kitchen. _

_She grabbed a couple protein bars and three apples to take on the road. Her deft fingers reached under the granite countertop and felt along the side until they brushed up against something different. It was a knob that had been there for the longest time, but she had never known what to do with it. Whenever she asked her parents, they would give her an indirect answer or simply torment her curiosity with just a stare. She knew what it was now._

_She twisted the knob clockwise until it had clicked eight times. She smirked when she heard a locking mechanism open inside the countertop. She twisted it counterclockwise this time until she heard a fifteenth click. Another lock opened. Her fingers spun the dial clockwise again until the seventeenth click. She smiled triumphantly when a secret compartment in the counter opened up to reveal a stash of money of all currencies. Julianna withdrew a small wad of American dollars, slipped it into her backpack, and closed up the safe again._

_She was about to turn to leave when her ears picked up a sound from the hallway. Her blood ran cold. Had they found her out? Her parents appeared in the kitchen and turned the lights on, exposing her personage. Her mother gasped when she saw her own daughter in the act of running away. Her father just scrutinized her with unusually cold eyes._

"_So you're leaving again?" he asked._

_Julianna simply nodded, ignorant of what to say. "Julianna, please. Don't leave, honey," her mother pleaded. _

"_No! Let her go," her father stated icily. "What do we care if she wants to go out all by herself in the world again?"_

_Julianna stopped by the door and looked back at her parents. Did she really have the heart to do this again? Her father's face contorted with rage and emotion._

"_Go on! Leave already!" he screamed at her. To emphasize his point, he grabbed the closest things to him and threw them at her. His daughter dodged them and opened the door to leave, but before she did, she picked up the objects her dad had thrown at her and was surprised to find that they were his old class books from medical school. She closed the door behind her a slid the books into her backpack. She would study them later, that was for sure. Medicine was all she had left of her past now._

_She ran down her long driveway and met up with her three friends Austin, Abbigale, and Drew. Austin held out his hand for her to take, and she did. She held onto it with an iron grip as if that would help her overcome the hot tears that formed behind her eyes. The four of them took off in unison, and Julianna Anderson never looked back._

_~end flashback~_

She couldn't now, and wouldn't ever, look back. She had learned that well in every situation that life had put her through. She didn't look back when she had left her home, and she didn't look back when she launched herself out of the hayloft and into the chilly night air to go look for Ian and Amy.

_~L~_

Austin, Abbigale, and Drew sat in Austin's tent. None of them said a word. They just looked at the floor or played with their thumbs. It was too different without their friend there. Where had she gone? She had just gone out for a night fly, right? The silence soaked Austin to the core with dismay. He knew the source of the emotion wasn't his own soul but someone else's. He didn't know what it was that was disturbing his Seraph so much, but he knew he just wanted to comfort her.

Suddenly, something welled up inside of him, something… huge. He felt his mind become engulfed in this… this… thought, this idea. Fear took over his senses, and then anger. He suddenly sat perfectly erect on the ground where he currently took residence. His senses cleared, and he became enlightened instantly. He knew why she was feeling such strong emotion. He knew what she was doing.

He felt her mind and soul drift farther and farther from his own as she neared the camp's border. Suddenly, she crossed the line that divided the woods from the camp, and it felt like a huge hole had just been carved out of his body. It was like a cord that had been connecting him to a lifeline had just snapped, and he was now floating out to sea. Something ached on the inside, and he couldn't help but feel nauseated. He put his head in his hands, and his friends asked him what was wrong.

Austin didn't respond, but, after his sudden wave of nausea passed, he stood up and turned to open the tent flap.

"Where are you going?" Abbigale asked. They couldn't sense the disturbance in his connection with her.

He turned his head slightly so that they could see the left side of his grave face. "I'm going to go find my Seraph and bring her home."

And with that, he took off, leaving the tent swaying from side to side.

_~L~_

Amy moved swiftly through the shadows of the camp, guided by the bright lunar beams that shone down from the heavens. Every one of her nerves was on edge. If even the slightest bit of movement caught her eye, she froze up and stood completely still like a deer in a car's headlights. Something felt wrong about this place that put her on edge, something that she couldn't quite put her finger on. Ian faithfully sprinted at her side, matching her stride for stride. It seemed like he was holding back his pace a bit to make sure that he didn't leave her.

"Where is he? Where _is_ he?" she muttered almost silently to herself. They had gone through most of the camp already, but they hadn't even caught a glimpse of Dan. Amy's breath was coming in pants now. She could hear her heart beating in her chest in the deathly cold silence of the night.

Ian's sharp eyes picked up something at the very top of the left tip of the _V_. He inhaled sharply through his teeth. "Amy, I see him. He's tied to a pole that's posted right outside of one of the tents. It's Isabel's no doubt. I think he's sleeping."

Adrenaline surged through her veins like fire, igniting her muscles with energy and filling her mind with uneasiness. They slipped through the neat lines of the dark purple tents until they got near to Dan. Amy's breath caught in her throat. He was so pale, so thin. Her vision wasn't as good as Ian's, but it was still sharper than a human's. She could see multiple small dots on his neck where needles had been injected into his body. What the contents of the syringes were, she didn't know, but it made her fists clench in rage to even think about it.

Without even thinking about it, she rushed into the open and ran to her little brother's side. Ian reached out to subdue her, but she wrenched her arm out of his firm grasp. She jarred Dan's body gently, waking him from his light slumber. He gazed at her with glazed eyes and an empty expression. Dan looked straight into his sister's jade green orbs without a single ounce of happiness or joy at seeing her again.

His eyes shocked her. Never in her life had she seen a shade of green so dull and colorless as his ghostly, vacant eyes. "Amy," he choked out. "You shouldn't have come."

Tears slid down her cheeks and soaked her face. "Don't say that. I'm so glad you're with me again."

Dan shook his head weakly. His eyes drifted from her face to something behind her then back to her face again. It was only then that Amy realized that Ian wasn't kneeling by her side like he usually did. It was only then that she notice that he hadn't followed her to back her up like he had always promised. At that indescribably terror-stricken moment, she saw her Guardian's motionless form lying lifeless on the ground.

"Ian!" A huge lump formed in her throat as she approached his body. She knelt beside his figure and shook his shoulder. He didn't respond. She shook him harder this time. Stillness mocked her efforts. She desperately and violently rattled his body to get some sort of response no matter how minute or vague. He stayed still, though. Tears poured down her face once more. What on earth had happened to her Guardian? One moment, he was right behind her, and the next he was lying motionless on the ground.

She pressed her fingers beneath his jaw to see if there was a pulse throbbing somewhere. It was very faint but existent nevertheless. Just then, she noticed the tiny dart protruding from the side of his neck. It was so small that she had almost missed it. A closer look revealed that all the contents had been drained from it.

She knew what was coming next and wasn't at all surprised when she felt the tiny prick of a poisoned needle lodging itself just beneath her skin. Light exploded in front of her eyes, and she felt dizzy instantly. She fell over, and black circles started to outline her vision and get larger with each passing second. She tried to fight the suffocating darkness as it overcame her vision, but her attempts proved futile. She was unconscious within minutes.

_~L~_

**Okay, okay. Now, I suppose you must be wondering why I haven't updated in a while, and I'm just going to tell you... *hangs head* I have no excuse. *tear* I'm such a horrible person! I know I don't deserve it, but please, please leave me a review. I'd like to have at least five reviews for each chapter. Don't you guys have at least just two seconds to write three stinking words for a review? :'( It makes me really sad when I've worked especially hard on a chapter, and only, like, two people review. So please, please just review. It's not that hard.**

**~Sugar**

**Note from the beta: Don't forget, everyone. "Choked" does not have two "C's." Be educated! Be smart! Impress your friends with your vast knowledge! Thank you, and have a wonderful night! (:**

**-3VAD127**


	20. Aesthetics of an Instant

**Oh my gosh! You guys are awesome! :D :D :D :D I got nine reviews besides my own! (I wanted to see if people can review themselves...) I was so excited! I looked at how many review were on my story, and I totally fell off my chair when it said 126! So I want to specially thank everyone who reviewed.**

**Huelinh**

**someone who didn't put their name **

**PJOTKCLucian13**

**Serenity Kabra (She reviewed last chapter, too, but I posted after I saw it)**

**theotherusernamesweretaken**

**SqueakyDolphin6**

**HopeRising11**

**Anonymous Person**

**bookgirl39 (though her review was very short, I still love her for it :P)**

**So thank you, everyone. And as for the person who didn't put a name, just know that I have a very strong suspicion as to who you are, but I'm not going to label you until facts are known. You guys know I don't own the _39 Clues,_ so why am I even saying anything?**

_~L~_

Amy woke up to an intense pain in her head. She opened her eyes to try to see where she was. Her vision was foggy, and the world spun before her eyes. When everything finally cleared up, she gasped internally. She had expected to see the interior of Ian's tent, but instead she saw Isabel sitting a few feet away from her, drinking tea. Just then, everything came back to her. She remembered rushing off to rescue Dan, reaching the camp, spotting Dan, dashing into the open to see him, and... Her blood ran cold. _Ian._ Where was Ian? He wasn't beside her. What had they done to him?

Isabel seemed to notice she was awake by then. She set her tea cup down on a tray and turned to Amy. "Sit up, girl," she commanded.

She numbly did as she was told. Isabel poured her some tea and handed her the cup. "Here. You'll feel better if you drink it. Your head'll stop swimming," she said with a fake smile.

Amy took the cup, but she didn't drink it. She didn't want to take any chances on it being poisoned. "What? Don't you trust me? I only took your brother to-"

"Where's Ian?" she interrupted. It was more of a command than an inquiry.

Isabel looked slightly shocked at her lack of a stutter, but she quickly composed herself again. "Whatever do you mean?"

"Where. Is. My. Guardian."

"I would think you'd be a bit more concerned about your own flesh and blood."

Amy glanced behind her at the open tent flap and spotted her little brother in the same place he had been last night. It was different with Ian. She _knew _where her brother was, but Ian was simply gone. The unknown scared her and ate away at her mind. She feared for her Guardian.

"And _I _would think that you'd regard your own son as more than just an object or experiment."

A wicked sneer spread across Isabel's face, contorting her exotic features. "He's a traitor to his branch. He got what he deserved."

"What did you do to him?"

The evil woman didn't respond but simply broke out into laughter. It was a sickening, high-pitched type of laughter that sent shivers up and down Amy's spine. Her horrible cackles echoed in her ears and sent awful thoughts into her mind. Why was she laughing? Was he...? Could he be...? No! There was no way! She'd be able to feel it within her.

Panic still rose in her throat, though. Anxiety flooded her thoughts. She jumped up from her sitting position on the floor, ignoring the nausea that washed over her, and flew into the cheery morning outside the tent. She fell on her hands and knees as the bile rose from her stomach, into her throat, and out of her mouth. The poison still needed more time to wear off.

She struggled to her feet, and before Isabel could subdue her, she cried out. She screamed his name to the heavens and spaces far beyond in hopes that somehow, someway, it would give her the slightest bit of knowledge as to what had happened to him. "Iaaaaaan!"

_~L~_

Ian's eyes suddenly opened in alarm. Had someone just called his name? He tried to sit up and realized that he already was. He was tied to a pole with his arms wrapped backward around it and his wrists in cuffs. He looked up. The pole seemed to be only five yards tall, but to him it seemed like endless miles.

His mind was fuzzy, but he didn't feel nauseous. It had been part of his Lucian training to become accustomed to some poisons and completely immune to others. It just so happened that that particular one was the only sleeping potion he hadn't become immune to. His mother knew him far too well, and that fact made him shiver inside.

He studied his surroundings to see if there was any way of escape. He seemed to be in a forest. That fact was odd, though, because the Vesper camp had been completely out in the open without a single tree in sight for more than two miles off. There were five guards around him. There was one on either side of him, one situated diagonally right of him, one diagonally left, and one directly behind him. They were each about a yard away from him—too close for his comfort. Each guard had at least one weapon on him if not more within the folds of his clothes. The two on his sides and the one in back had guns, but the two diagonal from him had different weapons. The right one had two sharp broadswords, and the left one had a long red katana. Ian's sharp eyes read the tiny print on the label. "Imported from Spain" it said.

The guard with the katana was awkwardly built. He was at least a foot shorter than the rest of them, and his shoulders weren't nearly as broad. His arms weren't as muscled and robust as the others, and his helmet seemed to be slightly too big for him. He must've been a teenager, no doubt. It made Ian sad to think that the Vespers had roped an innocent teenager into their evil plots and marred his irreproachability.

He _had_ to find a way to escape. What was happening to Amy? Were they hurting her? Just the thought of his wicked tyrant of a mother torturing his Seraph made his blood boil within his veins. His muscles ignited like fire with adrenaline and rage.

He struggled into a standing position. This caused four of the guards to turn to him and point their weapons. The teenager with the katana held his hand up, though, and everyone lowered their weapons. "I'm interested in seeing what he's going to do."

All the pent-up anger that Ian had at the Vespers suddenly took vengeance on his peace of mind. All the bundled-up fury that he had built up at the world was instantly unleashed. He felt his body react to his irreversible anger. Had he been a regular human, his anger would've done nothing for him, but he wasn't an ordinary human. He was so much more. His muscles bulged and grew, and his strength increased considerably. The feathers on his wings bristled, causing his appearance to become terribly frightening. His canine teeth elongated, and his pupils became dilated to the point where one could hardly see the minute golden rings that gleamed with hate.

He leaned forward and put enormous strain on the cuffs that restrained him. The wooden pole splintered a bit where they came in contact with the metal chain. After a moment of intense overtaxing, the cuffs shattered, and Ian was free.

One of the guards came at him and tried to shoot him down, but he deftly dodged the bullets and gave him a roundhouse kick to the face. He leaped into the air just as another of the Vespers charged beneath him. Ian landed on the guy's shoulders, knocking him flat on his face. A third one came at him with a gun, but Ian caught his arm and shot a fourth guard with it. He then put a bullet in that man's leg with his own gun. Only the teenager was left. He took out his katana and brandished it, waiting for Ian to make the first move. He charged the guard and leaped up when he swung his sword at his legs. Ian landed behind him and felt his foot connect solidly with the teen's back. The guard flew forward with the impact and landed on the ground. His helmet flew off and revealed confused blue-green eyes and red-streaked blonde hair.

All of Ian's anger flooded from his body. "You! What? What are you doing here?"

Julianna stood up and brushed herself off. "Wow. I never knew you were such a good fighter," she muttered.

"Answer me. What are you doing here?" Ian commanded.

"Well, _some_one's feeling a bit bossy today, aren't we? I came to help you."

"How did you even know where we were?"

"Because I know things. End of discussion. Now, let's go get Amy. I know where she is."

"Oh, no you don't! How can I be sure that you're really Julianna? There are too many loose ends here. Amy and I leave without even a warning or telling anyone, and you just...just show up here in a Vesper guard uniform. How can I be sure that you're not an imposter?"

She sighed heavily and smeared her hands across her face. "Fine. Quiz me."

"What's your full name?"

"Julianna Renee Anderson."

"What's your favorite color?"

"Dark red."

"What's my middle name?"

"Charles."

Ian's eyes narrowed cannily as if he had just come up with an impossible question. "How did we meet?" he asked slowly.

"I was ordered to assassinate you on August 12, 2009 by Bae Oh. Just as I was about to kill you in your sleep, you woke up and seized my gun. You almost pulled the trigger on me, but you had mercy and decided not to shoot. I climbed out your window after that and didn't see you again until you came to the War Hawks' main base camp. I saw you passing through the camp the day before I left to go home again after Carter died. Then I saw you two years later when you came back with Amy."

Ian dropped his guard and grinned. "Okay. I trust you. Now, where's Amy?"

She arched one of her eyebrows. "Where do you think?"

"She's in Isabel's tent, isn't she?"

Julianna rolled her eyes in mock stupidity. "Oh, shut up," Ian said.

"Come on. We're losing time."

He nodded and followed after her as she ran through in the relative darkness of dawn. He had no idea where he was, so he was dependent on her guidance. They went east for quite some time until they came to a small clearing in the dense foliage. Julianna went to the edge of the little dell to a tree that had a switchblade protruding from its bark. She pulled it out and slipped it inside her shirt sleeve.

She then went to the exact middle and started pushing the dead leaves around with her feet. Ian though it was a bit strange, but he didn't question her. She seemed to get frustrated with how slowly the leaves were being cleared because she got down on her hands and knees and pushed them bodily out of the way. Finally, she had cleared a little patch of ground of the dead foliage. She hopped up and brushed herself off.

"Uh, what on earth was that?" Ian asked.

She put her hands on her hips and blew a shock of bright red hair from her face. "You could've helped, you know."

"I had no idea what you were doing!"

"Oh, you know. I'm only getting us out of this freaky clump of trees!"

"What?"

She rolled her eyes and reached down to the ground that she cleared. Then Ian spotted a handle in the midst of all the leaves. Julianna pulled on it, and a wooden trap door opened to reveal an underground tunnel.

"How did you...?"

"It's amazing what they'll tell you when they think you're one of them."

"Yeah, their security isn't the best around here, is it?"

She sighed and shook her head in mock regret. Then she peered over the edge of the hole and plunged into the darkness with Ian close behind.

_~L~_

Austin sat on the hill that overlooked the Vesper camp, catching his breath. Somewhere within, his Seraph was lurking about in that adorably sneaky way she did. Her face was always so lit up with complete and utter determination and focus.

He shook his head as if to rid himself of such things. He was losing focus. He could tell her she was adorable later when she was safe. _Safe_. That word seemed so foreign to him. He hadn't ever felt actually safe in his life after his wings had grown in. He'd always been so afraid of someone discovering his secret and turning him in to some science lab to be tested like a lab rat for the rest of his life. His body involuntarily quivered at the thought. That was what he had to save his Seraph from. If the Vespers got her, she'd be tested on and in the process maybe even..._destroyed_. His heart welled up with emotion as that word crossed his mind. He had to find her. Now.

He was just about to rush down to the bottom of the hill when four strong hands caught him and pulled him back from certain doom. He landed on his back and looked up at his subduers. It was Abbigale and Drew.

_Of course, _he thought. _I should've made sure they weren't following me! How could I be so stupid? Now they're going to make me turn back and let Julianna handle it on her own. She's very smart, but I've worked out the probabilities in my head. There's only a one in a hundred chance that she'll be able to get them all out alive including herself all on her own. She needs my help!_

"I'm glad we showed up just in time. You were about to do something incredibly stupid," Drew said bluntly from his looming position over Austin's sprawled-out form.

He glowered at him and sat up. "Look, I hope you guys know that you can't stop me. I am _going _to go help her."

Abbigale smiled warmly at him. "We know. We came to help. She's our friend, too, you know."

Austin beamed at them. He was so lucky to have friends like them.

_~L~_

**Okay! I'm done with the chappie! Yaaaayy! :D *gasp* Guys! Guess. What. This is my twentieth chapter! :P :P :P :P *blows on noise maker and throws confetti* Whoohoo! We gonna rock this club! We gonna go all night! We gonna light it up like it's dy-no-mite. (I know that's not how you spell dynamite.) Let's all have a dance party! :D Ntch ntch ntch! (Like, seriously, guys. Take some time to dance around the room! Whoo!)**

**Okay, well, with the dance party over, tell me what you think of my twentieth chappie, my little chicky ducks! :D Do it! Push that pretty little button! :D **

**Wait! I just remembered something! Before you give me a review like I _know_ you will, I have a question to ask you that I forgot in the last chapter. Remember in the last chapter when Julianna had that flashback to her past when she left for the camp for a second time? Remember when she opened that safe? Well, does anyone know why those three numbers are particularly significant? This is a really tough question, so I don't expect many people to get this if any at all.**

**Okay. NOW you can review! :P**

**~Sugar**

**Beta: This has been officially... Beta'd. So there! If any of you have a problem just suck it up and complain to me if you want :) I accept all responsibility. And seriously! This calls for some intense partying cause she and I both know that I'm horrible at updating my stories... So PARTY!**

… **Can you tell we're related?**

**~KMXII~**


	21. Guess Who

**Hey! I'm back! :D Okay, so no one got the question. The three numbers are significant because my oldest sister, 3VAD127, was born on the eighth of December. My older sister, KiminatorXII, was born on the fifteenth of February. And I, my darlings, was born on the seventeenth of June. I thought that maybe one or two of you might get it because I've told a few of you when my birthday was, but, hey, I'm usually wrong anyway. :)**

**Disclaimer: SugarQueen8490 doesn't blah blah blah; you guys know the drill. Now on with the story! xD**

_~L~_

Running in the dark wasn't one of the easiest things in the world especially when you're running around in an underground labyrinth with nothing but a flashlight with dying batteries to guide you. Julianna stopped for the umpteenth time to check the map of the maze that she had in her pocket. She scrutinized the page, muttered to herself a bit, put it back in her pocket, and kept on running.

After what seemed like a century, the medic finally motioned for them to stop and take a break. Both of them put their backs against the wall and slid into a sitting position. "We're close," Julianna stated through gasps for air.

"To what?"

"Well, have you noticed that there haven't been any people at all down here?"

Ian motioned the affirmative. "Well, let's just say that's all about to change soon, and you're going to need a disguise."

He nodded, and they took off running again into the darkness. They ran for about ten more minutes until they came to a door on their right. Julianna took a key from a keyring on her belt and unlocked the door. Once they were both inside, she turned on the lights. The room was packed with Vesper uniforms, handguns, sniper rifles, swords, and a couple hand grenades. Hanging on the walls were maps of various portions of the labyrinth. The medic picked out a uniform and tossed it at Ian.

"Put these on over your clothes. Hopefully they'll hide your wings as well as they did mine."

He did as he was told and marveled in a mirror at his lack of extra appendages. If he hadn't known for a fact that he had wings, he wouldn't have known it at all. "We need to go before someone catches us. They might be suspicious, and a suspicious Vesper is the last thing we need," Julianna pointed out.

Ian nodded, and they both walked calmly out into the tunnel. They passed a few people along the way, but none of them seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary. Julianna and Ian, however, would tense up every time and try not to attack at first sight of another human being.

They traveled through the tunnels in peace until they passed a group of people. The leader narrowed his eyes as they passed and caught Julianna on the arm, pulling her back to face him. "I don't remember ever seeing you around here," he snapped, still keeping a strong grip on her arm.

The girl wasn't phased, though. She'd dealt with harsh words before. "Well, it's a fairly large camp, and I'm a fairly new Vesper. I wouldn't be surprised in the least."

The man scowled and harshly let go of the medic's wrist. "State your name and business in the labyrinth."

"My name is Jessica Smith, and I'm afraid my business is classified."

His dark eyes flickered with annoyance and rage. "I am your commanding officer! State your business, Jessica," he spat angrily.

Julianna's eyes lit up with uncertainty and fear. What was she supposed to say next? How was she supposed to answer to that?

The man punched her in the face, sending her sprawling out on the floor. She looked up at him with utter hatred glittering in her blueish green eyes. He stared back with a neutral expression and strutted to where she was propped up on the floor. He bent down and grabbed her wrist again, suspending her above the ground. He reached up and pulled down a part of her left sleeve. His eyes filled with rage when he looked at her bare skin.

"Liar! All Vespers have a mark on their left wrist! You're a spy, an infiltrator!" he screamed as he flung her down as hard as he could to the ground. Her head pounded on the ground as she fell, knocking out the ribbon that held her braid together with the impact. Her hair fluttered around her like a long, golden waterfall. Ian looked at her forehead and saw a large gash near her right temple where her head had hit the floor. She was his friend! He couldn't just let her take this kind of abuse!

"Hey! Don't you treat her that way!" he yelled at the wicked Vesper. The man laughed evilly.

"And what are you going to do about it? I could simply kill you if I wanted to."

Ian charged him and tried to land a punch, but the man dodged his attack and pushed Ian into the wall. There was a loud smacking noise at the impact, and he could feel blood trickle down his chin from his lips. Julianna was on her feet by this time and attempted an assault on the leader, but one of the females from his posse caught her loose tresses in her hand and shoved her to the ground, still keeping a grip on her hair.

"My, my," the female Vesper purred. "What long and lovely locks you have. Maybe if you would've spent less time doing your hair and more time practicing your fighting technique, you wouldn't be in this messy fix."

"Good job, Jaycie," the leader rewarded. Jaycie's blueish purple eyes glinted with pride.

Through the fog in Ian's brain, he could barely register what the people were saying. He had hit his head far harder than he originally realized. Suddenly, the leader pulled a gun out of his holster and pointed it at him. "All imposters must be eliminated," he stated coolly.

Julianna's eyes widened in shock, and she began to thrash about in desperation. There was no way she would let someone's Guardian die! No one else should have to go through what she did. She slipped the switchblade out of her shirtsleeve and unsheathed the blade.

Jaycie laughed cruelly. "Do you really think that'll work on me? You're at too awkward of an angle to get me."

The medic gave her a sly smirk. "It isn't for _you_."

Then Julianna swung the blade in a wide arc behind her head, slicing her hair short and setting her free. Jaycie stumbled backward in shock, dropping the excess hair. The medic charged the leader, landed a strong kick on his back, and caught him by surprise, knocking him off his feet. She quickly hopped on top of him and pinned him down using her mutant strength. A revived Ian took Jaycie and the rest down easily. They tied up the leader with some rope they found in a nearby room, dragged the bodies of his unconscious posse into the room, and locked them all inside.

After all of it was over, Julianna collapsed on her knees and held her head in her hands. It felt as if someone had sliced open her head and inserted and giant metronome in between the two sections of her brain. Every single sound wave that existed in that tunnel crashed against her eardrums and echoed deafeningly in the depths of her mind.

Ian hauled her to her feet. "Come on. We need to keep moving. All that commotion probably alerted some surrounding people. Sound travels quickly in an echoing tunnel such as this."

She nodded and took a look at her map. They were getting close to their exit. It was only a matter of time before they would come face-to-face with the wickedest woman in the universe.

_~L~_

Ian crouched in the shadow of one of the Vespers' tents. The chilly night air made him shiver every once in a while. He could see Amy. She was tied to the same post that her brother was. The sight of her gave him an almost irresistible urge to run to her, to hold her in his arms. He knew he couldn't, though, not yet anyways.

"Okay, so here's the plan. You're going to go up there and unlock Amy and Dan's handcuffs with this key—she handed him a key from her keyring—while I take care of Isabel," Julianna said.

"Take care of her?"

"I have a paralysis serum made from a special type of spider venom that I'm going to inject in her."

"That sounds kind of Lucian of you," he joked.

She chuckled quietly. "Have you forgotten that my grandfather was all Lucian?"

Ian smiled. "Okay we should get moving."

Julianna nodded in agreement, and they both covered most of the ground separating them from Amy and Dan. "Oh, and, Ian. I can't stress this enough. Don't. Make. A sound."

He nodded, and the medic slithered through the flaps to Isabel's tent. Ian kneeled down and started undoing Amy's bindings and unlocked her handcuffs. The movement caused her to wake. Her eyes widened at the sight of him, and her eyes glittered with unshed tears. She mouthed his name but didn't utter a word. He felt happiness and relief flood his mind and body. She was safe. She was okay.

Julianna rushed out of Isabel's tent, her face ashen with shock. "What is it?" he whispered.

"She wasn't there. She wasn't there. She's just...gone!" she mumbled urgently.

"Well, then where-" Ian was cut off by the sound of a gunshot. He heard someone scream, but he couldn't place who it was. Blood splattered on his face, and he heard a body fall to the ground.

_~L~_

**Oooo. Big cliffie. :P Who got shot? I'll mention you if you get it right. All I'm saying is that it might not be who you'd think it is. *mysterious grin* I'm so, so sorry for not updating soon! And for making this chapter kind of short, but I wanted to leave you in suspense! :) Heehee. I'm mean like that...**

**~Sugar**


	22. Only the Strongest Will Survive

**Hey! :P This chapter is going to be relatively uneventful, so prepare for boredom after the first section. I don't really have anything more to say... so... ONTO THE DISCLAIMER! :D**

**Disclaimer: No amount of hope will give me the 39 Clues. :'( Sadly...**

_~L~_

Ian looked over to where Julianna stood beside the crumpled body of her Guardian. Her mouth was still open from screaming. Her chest was heaving in unreleased sobs, her muscles expanding and contracting rapidly in pure shock. He saw Abbigale and Drew with horrified looks on their faces in his peripheral vision.

He shifted his gaze to his right to see Isabel holding up a 9mm. She had a wicked gleam in her eye and a fake smile plastered on her face. She was backed by dozens of Vesper guards. "You're little escape ends here," she spat with a self-accomplished look on her beautifully hideous features. No one replied.

"You," she said, walking toward Julianna. "Had I been sleeping soundly in my tent, I would've been sent into a coma from that venom you have there. My pulse would've been lowered so dramatically that it would've been imperceptible. No one would've known I was alive and buried me. I would've woken up in a coffin six feet underground, realizing that it was only an matter of time before my life would come to an end from lack of oxygen, and no one would've been able to hear my screams. What a horrifying variety of torture. Now, why on earth would someone that I barely know do something like that to me? Did somebody butt her nose into something that was strictly privy to commanding Lucians? Hm?"

Isabel was face-to-face with the medic now. "Did you find out who _really _killed him?" she inquired innocently.

The wicked Kabra paced slowly in a circular formation around Julianna. "Did you find out that it wasn't a Madrigal at all? No. A Vesper spy, a girl by the name of Amber Taylor. I commanded her to kill you once and for all, but I guess she missed... Let me get that for her," she said as she jabbed a knife into the girl in front of her.

The medic had moved, though, so it only went in right below her shoulder. Isabel's face contorted in rage. She twisted the knife slowly. Julianna screamed in agony, and Austin moaned from his position on the ground and clutched his shoulder.

She pulled the knife from the girl's shoulder. Just as she was about to strike again, Austin sprung up and tackled her flat on her back. Isabel screamed in rage and heaved Julianna's Guardian off of her.

Austin's move gave Abbigale, Drew, Amy, and Ian time to rush into action. Abbigale pulled her best friend's body out of harm's way and then joined Ian, Amy, and her Guardian in their fight. The Vesper guards had rushed in now. It was a complete mosh pit of discord.

The winged teens quickly saw their slim odds and retreated to the skies. Ian had Julianna in his arms. Amy carried Dan, and Drew and Abbigale supported Austin's limp body. There were gunshots heard all around them. A bullet whizzed past Abbigale's ear. "We need to get out of here! NOW!" she yelled at her friends.

They all agreed and burst into super sonic speed. Before they knew it, they were back at the camp's borders. They all collapsed with the exhaustion of carrying dead weight at such a speed. Ian could see his muscles quivering violently from the stress. He looked over at Amy who was lying beside him. "Don't you ever leave me," he whispered and gently took her hand.

She didn't respond. Her eyelids slowly closed, and she fell into a deep sleep with Ian not far behind.

_~L~_

Amy woke to an intense throbbing in her head. Her vision was blurry, and every sound she heard pounded against her eardrums, making her head hurt. Through her foggy vision she could see four or five people bustling around. She recognized that she was in the Seraph medic tent. She shifted her head to look around her. All the other cots were empty.

She sat up quickly, ignoring the protest of her cranium. A nurse rushed to her side. "I'd advise you not to move, miss. Your body went through some serious taxation. I've been given orders to keep you here for a little while longer."

"I need to find my friends. Please tell your commander that I'm truly sorry, but I can't just lie here not knowing if my friends are okay."

"Wow, Amy. It's good to see that you've finally gained some respect for my wishes," said a female voice from behind her. She quickly turned around and was greeted by the familiar face of the head medic.

"Julianna! You're okay!" Amy exclaimed as she pulled the other girl into a hug.

"Ow! Yeah, or at least I _was _okay," she said, clutching her injured shoulder.

"Sorry," Amy said, pulling away. The other girl simply laughed.

"So what happened to everyone else?"

"They all seemed to recover much faster than you did. Abbigale woke up earlier this morning with nothing but a mild headache and some minor bruising. Drew was fine after swallowing his pride with an Asprin and shutting his mouth. He never did like fainting in public. Ian recovered the quickest. He awoke very early this morning with not even a dull ache behind his eyes."

"What about Austin?"

"Oh, he'll be fine in a couple days. We had to do surgery on him to get the bullet out, and he lost a lot of blood. It was okay, though. Drew and Abbigale donated some. Ian wanted to, but we found out that he has a negative blood type like me. So he couldn't have donated. See, if a person with a positive blood type gets a donation of negative blood, then the contrast between the two-"

Amy burst out laughing, interrupting Julianna's spiel about blood types. "What so funny?" the medic asked, genuinely confused.

"Nothing. It's just that it's so funny seeing these intelligent words coming out of a twelve-year-old's mouth."

"I'll have you know that I turned thirteen a couple days ago."

"Oh, well... happy birthday."

"Mhm. Well, I'm sure your Guardian is going to want to hear of your awakening. He's been coming in here every hour on the hour to check up on you. Your brother, too. He's up and at 'em."

"Dan's okay? I was almost too afraid to ask..."

"Yep! Right as rain. He was just dehydrated, mildly malnourished, and still recovering from the last poison that Isabel injected into his bloodstream. He's okay now, though."

Amy let out a sigh of relief. Her little brother was going to be okay. "So...where are they?"

Julianna didn't respond but simply led her over to the middle of the camp where the four branches mingled and pointed out a group of people that Amy recognized all too well. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw Ian standing amongst them. He had a small cut on his bottom lip, but other than that he was injury free. He would never cease to amaze her. Her eyes drifted over to the person standing next to her Guardian. She smiled widely when she saw that it was Dan. He was glaring intently at Ian. The Lucian would give an uncomfortable sideward glance at him every once in a while, but he ignored it overall.

Just then, something occurred to her. "Hey, Julianna, how did _you_ heal up so quickly?"

There was no reply, and Amy looked back to see that the medic was gone already. She shrugged her shoulders. That would stay a mystery for another day...

She turned back around, and saw that Ian had spotted her. His eyes glistened with joy, and a huge smile broke out on his face. She felt breathless again under that intent, golden gaze of his. She didn't command her legs to do anything. They simply started to move. She found herself running faster and faster, covering the ground between her and Ian. She leaped into his arms, and he spun her around once.

"I love you," she said into his shoulder.

"I love you, too," he echoed, his British accent making it sound better. She pulled away from him and turned to her brother. He had an unhappy expression on his face.

"So it's true," he said. "You're in love with the jerk-face who betrayed you in Korea and almost got us killed so many times after that."

She felt Ian's peaceful mentality suddenly stir up long lost emotions of deep sadness and regret. Their emotional connection helped her finally realize what was hiding inside of him before. Every time anyone mention Korea, he instantly got depressed.

"He doesn't love you, Amy. He never will. It's just another of his evil tricks."

"Dan, he helped get you out of the Vesper camp. Now _you're _the one being a jerk. You need to let go of things and move on. It's part of growing up. I finally learned that after such a long time of being bitter inside about it. You should do the same."

"You're on his side now? Open your eyes, Amy. He's _evil. _One of these days he's going to turn on you, and the tears will start all over again. I don't want to see you get hurt."

"Look, Ian won't hurt me ever again. He took a vow to protect me with his life. He's my Guardian now."

Dan's eyes bugged out. "You two got married?"

Amy did a face palm. "No! We did not get married! We're only fourteen!"

She heard Ian choke behind her. His face was pale, and he looked horrified. "What? Do you think marrying me would be such a horrible thing?"

He looked surprised at her sudden question. "No. It's just that... I don't know. It'd just be really weird, I guess."

Her eyes narrowed, and he knew that he was in trouble. "We're going to have a talk later, Mr. Kabra."

"Oh, crud," he muttered.

She turned back to Dan. "Anyway, back to what I was saying. You need to forgive him."

His eyes shifted from her to Ian to Ian's wings then back to her. "Fine. But so help me, Cobra. If I find out that my sister got hurt again, I'll make sure that you don't see tomorrow."

With that, he walked off. Ian's muscles relaxed, and his mind was peaceful again. She turned around to him. "Now, tell me again why marrying me would be so bad."

His eyes widened like a deer in headlights. "I just... It's just... I haven't... Oh, crap," was the most he could muster.

She could feel his various emotions swirling inside his soul. The strongest one, though, was amusement. "I'm _amusing_ to you?"

His eyes sparkled with unreleased laughter. "Stop laughing at me inwardly!" she said, emphasizing each word with a slap to his arms. This only made him laugh out loud. It was a deep, guttural type of laughter that came with pure joy.

"What's so funny?" she asked, genuinely confused.

"You know, most men have to actually get married to suffer this kind of abuse," he said through his chuckles. Amy had no idea what it was about that moment or about what he said, but she suddenly started cracking up. She tried to cover her mouth to disguise her giggles so as not to encourage him, but she was nearly crying from laughing so hard in only a matter of time.

When her laughter subsided, she had no idea what she had even been mad about. "What were we talking about earlier again?" she asked.

Ian shrugged his shoulders and took her hand. "Come on. Let's take a walk in the woods."

They walked off, leaving Drew and Abbigale alone. "And then there were two," Drew said.

"Three," Julianna said from behind them. She was staring intently at the blonde.

"Jujuice! Hey! How are you?" he asked nervously.

"Fine, no thanks to you."

"Hey, I would've put my life on the line for you, but I'm not your Guardian, just your friend. But hey, if a squirrel attacks you, I'm all over it."

"That's very comforting, Drewcifer, but I didn't come here to have this conversation with you. I need to check up on you two, see if your vitals are all still normal."

"Check away," he said overdramatically. The medic rolled her eyes and checked both of their respirations, pulses, and temperatures. She wrote something down on a check board and walked off.

"A squirrel. Really?" Abbigale asked her Guardian. He shrugged his shoulders.

_~L~_

Julianna stood in the doorway of the Guardians' medic tent. She felt the breeze ruffle her newly cropped hair and smiled, letting it caress her face. The world was so beautiful sometimes if people would just let it be.

She heard uneven footsteps behind her, messing up her peace. "Up so soon, Austin?"

"I'm feeling much better," he said, looking over at his Seraph. "Something's bothering you, Julianna, and I want to know what it is."

She took in a deep breath, inhaling the scent of nature, and took a long pause before answering. "They're coming, Austin... the Vespers," she whispered.

"So? We've dealt with them before. We can deal with them again."

She shook her head. "You don't get it. This time is different. This time only the strongest will survive. So... so lead me to Heaven when we die."

_~L~_

**Okay, so it's basically a duh factor right now that Austin got shot. Most of you assumed that the tent was far away from the pole Amy and Dan were tied to. I always visioned it as being really close... Yeah, so none of you got it, but I did get some really intelligent answers from some awesome people such as mimidogirl1999 and Madrigrl39. Okay, so not as much Madrigrl39, but she won my favor by taking the time to PM me. :3 **

**This is unbeta'd because my sister is gone at our lake cottage, and I'm stuck at home...**

**Okay, do you guys know how many people have read my story? 5,893 people and counting. Do you know how many reviews I have? 147. Almost all of those reviews are from the same couple of people. Please, guys. I really want to know what you thought! I really do! So please tell me!**

**~Sugar**


	23. Planning

**Hallo! :D Welcome to the twenty-third chapter of The War Hawks! XD This chapter is dedicated to the twenty-five people who have favorited this story.**

**Angel-Amy-22**

**AShellThatSings**

**Athens Eternal Maiden**

**Captain Holly Short LEP**

**Christine Kabra**

**desiree31**

**emie13**

**Hello2323 (*heart* lol XD)**

**jansee517**

**katriennecahill**

**keana269**

**Luvlessgrl**

**madrigalspy**

**Madrigrl39**

**MyKnightInSterlingArmour97**

**PJOTKCLucian13**

**RageRunsStill (Rage! What happened to you? You haven't reviewed in, like, forever!)**

**Serenity Kabra**

**Sleeping Kangaroo**

**snowyclara**

**The Girl of the Moon**

**TheJetsetter**

**TheOtherUsernamesWereTaken**

**yahidontlikeueither**

**I love you all! :D Thank you so much! I really don't deserve it. (: Oh, and just as a reminder, Sean is the guy who taught Amy and Ian how to deep sea dive, remember?**

_~L~_

Amy's eyes shifted to the various faces around the room, not bothering to linger on any one of them. She could feel the tenseness in the people that sat in the relative silence of the room. Ian sat beside her, his fingers constantly twitching. He would shift his body every ten seconds or so to quell the horrible suspense that was eating away at his peace of mind.

There was a representative from every branch there in the tent. They were seated on the ground with a small, square table in the middle of them. The Lucian and Janus representatives were sitting on the left side of the table with the Ekat and Tomas on the right, the director of the camp at the head of the table. Ian was the obvious choice for the Lucian, seeing as though he was born to the branch's leader. Amy had been allowed to tag along since he had insisted.

Abbigale sat near Ian on the left side of the table. All the Janus liked her and agreed that she would be an asset to the meeting. Drew sat beside her for the same reason Amy sat next to Ian.

Julianna sat in as the Ekat representative. Even though she was only half, the Ekat always made the smart decisions. They knew that she'd be able to relate to more than just one branch, therefore manipulating her words to appeal to them and furthermore getting them to agree with her opinions.

Sean sat in for the Tomas. All of them agreed that he was the least bone-headed of the branch, and he was a fairly good strategist from all points of terrain and environment.

The director cleared her throat, and everyone's attention was instantly on her. The director was a Seraph who had lost her Guardian a while back. She was the oldest teenager in the camp, and she had the most experience with dealing with the Vespers. Everyone agreed that she's make the best leader. She had raven black hair and dazzling blue eyes that seemed to be able to see right into your mind and soul.

"I believe you all know why you're here," she said in a regal tone. "The Vespers are indeed coming. We have reason to believe that they're approaching our camp's borders as we speak."

There was urgent murmuring heard throughout the small tent. "We are going to put into play a strategy that was devised a while back in case of a battle."

Everyone leaned forward in their seats, and she began.

_~L~_

The meeting was over, and everyone was about to exit the tent. The director pulled Julianna back, though, and turned her around to face her.

"Julianna, there's something I need you to do for me."

"Sure. What is it?"

"I… I need you to build a bomb."

"You… you mean the one that—"

"Yes, that one," the older girl interrupted.

"How powerful?"

"Make it as powerful as you can without making it too horribly unstable."

The medic nodded. "But wouldn't this job be better for a Lucian, maybe? Or an Ekat?"

The leader shook her head. "That's why I want you to do it. Lucians are good with knowing what to do under pressure, and Ekats are good with chemicals and things used in bombs. The fact that you have a little of both traits makes you the perfect person to do this."

"But… but what if I mess it up? What if it goes off while—"

"You'll do fine. I know you will. I've known you for a long time. Plus, if my little brother always believed you could do anything, then why can't I?"

Julianna winced in pain at the mention of her late Guardian. "How soon do you need it?"

"You know how close the Vespers are, Julianna. I need it tomorrow."

_~L~_

Amy waited outside the tent for Julianna to come out; there was something she needed to talk to her about… The girl finally emerged and smiled when she saw Amy. Her short hair was scrunched into loose waves. Her bright red streaks had faded and then disappeared, and she wore less eye makeup. She had stopped wearing so much black lately, and she had started dressing more femininely: she was wearing a soft blue sundress that brought out the blue in her eyes. Overall, she looked really nice.

"Hey," Amy greeted.

"Hey," the younger girl responded, an elegant grin gracing her lips.

"There's something I need to tell you, something I should've told you a long time ago."

Julianna quirked her eyebrow. "I'm—"

"You're going to tell me you're a Madrigal, aren't you? That Ian only lied about you being a Lucian so I wouldn't hate you forever."

Amy furrowed her brows. "How did you know?"

"Amy, you're smart… but you're no Lucian. Oh, sure, Ian's a sweetheart, but when push comes to shove, he can be a ruthless dictator. You just don't seem to have the cunning cruelty that Lucians are supposed to have."

"But how did you know I was a Madrigal?"

"Well, you're not athletic like the Tomas. You're not musically gifted like the Janus. You're not a genius like the Ekat. I figured there was no other option."

"But didn't Madeline get the whole serum?"

Julianna chuckled a bit. "No. She got nothing. She was the peace-maker, that's it."

"But Ian said—"

"Ian assumes. Like most people, he hates not having an answer for things. He sees a hole in his knowledge and fills it with assumptions."

"Oh… Then why do I have wings?"

"Isabel gave them to you, remember? She said it in her letter."

"When did you see that letter?"

Julianna took Isabel's letter from a pocket in her dress and handed it to Amy. "Because I can do things."

"How did you…? When did you…? You know what. I don't even want to know anymore."

The medic chuckled and shook her head. "I need to go now. There's something I need to do."

"Oh! I can help you if you want," Amy said.

The younger girl gave her a confused, worried expression. "Wh-what?"

"I'll help you inform the camp to send out representatives to the five other camps to come together to fight the Vespers."

The blonde looked relieved, but the expression soon passed. "Sure, thanks."

Amy looked over at her companion. "You're one strange kid, you know that?"

"But! Would you be friends with me if I were anything less?"

The redhead looked over at her friend and raised her eyebrows. The other girl scoffed and rolled her eyes. "You don't have to be so mean."

Both girls laughed and continued walking toward the center of the camp.

_~L~_

**It's short! I know! I know! But I was in a hurry to get this chappie up, seeing as though you guys have been waiting for a really long time. Now, I want to take the time to respond to a couple people's reviews. Oh, and if I don't respond to yours, I'm acknowledging you at the end... :)**

**Madrigrl39: Haha lol. Me too! :D That's just because we're funny with our sigs! ;D**

**BlackRoseAtMidnight: Yayz! You finally read my stuff! :D Well, thank you. :P I get in those moods, too. :)**

**Thatrandompersonyoumightknow: Who are you? Do I actually know you? Because you sound EXACTLY like one of my best friends. And how did you know about the blueberry waffles? O.o But thank you so much for your review! :P And yes. We most certainly can. :)**

**OK, again, I know it's short, and I know you guys have been waiting for a long time, but I had some insane writer's block! :'( I literally sat in front of the computer, staring at the screen, whistling "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot." Okay, the other people who reviewed were katriennecahill, PJOTKCLucian13, AshellThatSings, Hello2323, Madrigal-in-training, and bookgirl39. Thank you all so much for reviewing! Please do that some more! :D**

**And now for your reward for reading this suckish story! :D LET IT RAIN WAFFLES! *pulls on cord, and blueberry waffles rain from the Heavens* Courtesy of Thatrandompersonyoumightknow! :D**

**~Sugar**

**Beta: Once again, a wonderfully error-free chappie. Please sign in or leave an e-mail address so SugarQueen can send her review replies directly to your inbox! Isn't technology wonderfully efficient? (:**

**Don't forget to spellcheck or get a beta when writing your own stories. _Ja matta ne._**

**-3VAD127**


	24. All Heck Breaks Loose

**Okay, okay. I know what you're all thinking. "Sugar! You're time to update is long overdue!" (sigh) And yes, my friend. You're quite right. But I'm bending over backwards to update for you people! I'm writing in complete darkness except for the glow of the computer screen, and I'm at my grandparents' house where going to bed late is strictly forbidden. So feel special, you people!**

**Disclaimer: I don't even want to talk about it. :'( Oh, and I also don't own the song "Your Guardian Angel" by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus.**

_~L~_

Julianna stood in a small crowd of her fellow medics in the midst of the congregation of people.  
All the other winged teens from the five other camps in the surrounding area had been summoned to the base camp, and now there was quite a sum of mutant soldiers. Everyone knew they'd still be outnumbered, though.

At the moment, they were all gathered in the middle of the large camp, their eyes and ears trained on the camp director for instructions to prepare for battle. It would be bloody, and they would need all the medics they could scrape up. That meant Julianna wouldn't be fighting on the battlefield anytime soon. Her adrenaline was still pumping, though, and she felt the need to destroy every Vesper within a fifty-mile radius. It was probably just the bird kid in her, though.

Every section got their instructions, and the huge crowd dispersed to go carry them out. She immediately went to the medic tent to get everything organized and ready for use. Most of the equipment they had had never been used, seeing as though a huge battle like this had never occurred in War Hawk history. The organization had only been in existence for about five years, though, so that wasn't saying much.

She was straightening the white linen sheets on her worktable when her bare toes brushed across something cold and metallic. She stooped down, quickly realized what it was, scooped it up, and put it back in its hiding place. It was the bomb she had built for the director, the same bomb that… No. She couldn't let herself think of something so horrific in a time like that. She simply shook her head to rid herself of her thoughts and continued tidying up her workspace.

_~L~_

The horrid sound of metal on metal reached Ian's ears as he dragged his sword across the piece of metal in front of him. A dull sword would serve him no purpose where he was going. He looked over at Amy where she was polishing her own sword, a grave expression plastered on her symmetrical features. He felt a slight pang of guilt. He had been the one to drag her into this. She could've just lived a normal life if he hadn't have made her his Seraph. Well, as normal as a Cahill could be… He would keep her safe, though. He would _always_ keep her safe.

The War Hawks was divided into four battalions, each battalion having ten groups. Each group had two hundred soldiers in it. The groups would be sent out in waves to weaken the opposing forces and hopefully drive them away. He and Amy were in the sixth group of the second battalion. It wasn't the best hand, but it wasn't the worst either. Drew and Abbigale had been assigned the very last group of the fourth battalion. He knew the specific reason for it, but he still couldn't believe that it was true. The risks Drew was taking were monumental. He felt bad for Abbigale. The worry that must be hanging over her head…

His eyes rested upon Amy once more, and a new sense of determination flooded his senses. Keeping her safe was all he would think about for the next few days…weeks…maybe even months. Who knew how long this would last, really? Or at least how long _he_ would last. He was definitely afraid for his own life. Who wouldn't be? But his life didn't matter anymore. He felt a wave of selflessness overcome his fear. The only thing that mattered was that fiery redhead in front of him.

A song suddenly came to his mind. It was one of Julianna's favorites, and she had insisted he listen to it because it reminded her of his relationship with Amy. First he hummed the tune, and then he quietly sang the chorus.

"I will never let you fall. I'll stand up with you forever. I'll be there for you through it all, even if saving you sends me to Heaven 'cause you're my, you're my, my true love, my whole heart. Please don't throw that away. I'm here for you. Please don't walk away, and please tell me you'll stay…"

_~L~_

Drew wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans, and then he went back to adjusting his bulletproof vest. It was the best protection he had if anything went wrong with his…"job." He finished this task quickly, and then he had nothing to do, seeing as thought all his weapons were sharp and gleaming in the sunlight. He needed someone to talk to at the moment.

He started to make his way toward Abbi, but something made him stop short. Talking about it would only make her worry more. He didn't want that. She had other things to focus on besides him. Getting distracted out in the battlefield could possibly cost you your life, and she meant the world to him.

So he made his way in the opposite direction, and soon came to the medic tent where Julianna was setting things up for use. Her hair and clothes were neat as usual, but something about the way she held herself showed him that she was unhinged on the inside. She suddenly stopped her work and straightened.

"You shouldn't be here, Drew. You have other things you need to be doing," she told him in her unusually calm voice. He detected a hint of raggedness in it, though.

"I need the, uh…"

She sighed, understanding what he meant, and stooped down to pull out her bomb. She handed it to him carefully, and turned away from him again.

"I need to know how it works," he pointed out. She turned to face him again. Her eyes were a very light blue like the sky right after a storm. They always turned this color when she had just been crying.

"You shouldn't cry, Julianna. Your tears won't help prevent the inevitable."

She scowled at him and curtly explained to him how the bomb was on a specific timer once you pushed the button. The timer made it more stable, so that it wouldn't just go off if you accidentally hit something. He nodded at everything she said, and when she was finished speaking, he finally asked her what he came to ask her.

"What if I don't make it back? What if something goes wrong, and I die? What'll happen to Abbigale?"

"Then you don't make it back. You'll die, just like so many Guardians before you, and she'll figure out how to live soon enough."

"What did it feel like when Carter died?"

She didn't respond for a moment. "Like… like part of me was simply gone. Like I had been half of a whole, but my other half had been violently ripped out of my arms."

"If I don't come back, take care of her, okay? Protect her like I would. Make sure she's never alone."

She didn't respond but simply nodded. "Promise me," he demanded.

She looked down at her toes. "I promise that she'll never be alone," she whispered.

He nodded his approval. Then, a loud whizzing noise made Julianna's head pop up. "That sounds like a-"

A loud explosion cut off her words, and then all Hades broke loose.

_~L~_

**Hey! I know it's short! I know! :'( Again… I'm so sorry, but right now, I'm just trying to get more stuff up. But! On the plus side, we've finally reached the climax of the story! :P And if I get lots of reviews, I'll probably update faster! :D So yes, EVERYONE needs to review. Go on! Go do it!**

**Oh, and DancinQn997, that's a request impossible to carry out. I've already decided who'll live and who won't. So sorry. :'( But just for you, I'll make the death toll very small! :D**

**And now LET IT RAIN BLUEBERRY WAFFLES AGAIN! XD (rains blueberry waffles) That is all. :3**

**~Sugar**


	25. Why Me? Why Again?

**Hey, hey, heeeeeyyyy! :D I'm back. OBVIOUSLY. ^^ Anyways, I'm so sorry for the wait and stuff. I feel like I'm apologizing every single chapter now because of the wait... Which, I probably am. :/ So, I felt obligated to tell you my writing methods. **

**First, it takes a couple days to plan the chapter inside my head, so I get the gist of what I want to put in that specific chapter. Then, I'm lazy for a few more days. After that, it takes about a week to actually write the majority of the thing. And finally, I procrastinate for a really long time until I finally finish the chapter and post it that night... And somewhere in that mess I usually read my last chapter.**

**So yeah... Now you know how lazy I am... :'( I'm trying to change! D': I swear!**

**Disclaimer: *starts bawling***

_~L~_

The explosion knocked Drew and Julianna from their standing positions. Pieces of shrapnel sliced through the canvas walls of the medic tent and showered the two in a sharp, deadly rain. They covered themselves with their wings, just happy that the actual explosion didn't reach them. When the shrapnel stopped coming, Drew sat up and turned to his friend.

"You okay?" he asked.

Julianna didn't answer. Her eyes were fixated on the air in front of her, looking but not seeing. It was as if she was looking at something far beyond the ability of her sight. She started to hyperventilate.

"Are you okay?" Drew repeated. The medic slowly shifted her eyes to look into his. They were clouded with an intense pain and terror. "What happened, Julianna? Did you get hit by shrapnel?"

She shook her head slowly. "You need to find Abbigale," she told him in a ragged voice.

At her suggestion, Drew's senses were suddenly flooded with the urgent need to see Abbigale and hold her in his arms. The feelings were so sudden, so intense that he was knocked back onto his back. He knew this feeling wouldn't go away or even lessen until he was with his Seraph. It was all he could do to keep himself there to make sure his friend was alright.

"Go find Abbigale. I'm fine, Drew." She finished off her statement with an unconvincing smile. It looked more like a pained grimace, but he was too distracted to even notice. He nodded and hurried out of the tent to go find the brunette that so urgently called to him through her emotions.

Looking back, he knew he should've stayed just a bit longer. He knew he should've notice how sickly pale Julianna's face was...but he didn't. Or how she was twisting her ring around her finger like she did when she was trying to suppress something...but he didn't. Or how silent, crystalline tears streamed down her lightly-flushed cheeks, indicating that something was very wrong...but the harsh truth was, he _didn't_. She wasn't injured, that he knew, but something was terribly, _horribly_ wrong.

_~L~_

Abbigale paced back and forth in the lush grass that tickled her ankles. She didn't notice this, though. All she could think about was Drew. Was he okay? Well, of course he was. If he wasn't, she would feel it. But still... she couldn't help but worry about him.

Suddenly, she felt his presence, and she looked up to see him approaching her with a wide grin on his face. She mirrored his smile and sprinted over to him, crashing into his body. He wrapped his arms around her and inhaled her lovely scent.

"Never _ever_ leave without telling me, okay?" the brunette said into his chest.

He chuckled, and with her ear pressed to him, Abbigale could hear the sound reverberating in his chest. "I solemnly swear," he promised.

"How's Juju? Is she okay?"

"Uh..."

"Drew, is she okay?" Abbigale repeated, a more steely tone coming out in her voice.

"Well, I sort of left in a hurry, so I'm not exactly sure."

She glared intensely at him, the fluff of the earlier moment simple memories floating above them like dust particles.

"She's not injured, though!" he reassured her, holding his hands up in a humbling position.

"We need to go find her."

Drew sighed. "Okay, okay... Wait! Let's go find Austin first, so we can all go check up on her at the same time."

Abbigale nodded in approval at his idea, and they headed over to their group leader to ask where to find Austin.

"Excuse me?" the brunette said, catching their leader's attention. "Where can we find Austin Gunther? He's in battalion three, group eight."

Their leader's bright face suddenly turned dark. "Battalion three, group eight?"

"Yes."

"Haven't you heard? There _is_ no group eight in battalion three anymore. The bomb dropped straight down on top of them. Every single person in that group was complete annihilated."

_~L~_

Julianna crouched in the darkest corner of the medic tent, rocking back and forth on the balls of her toes. This type of position always helped her think more clearly, and combining this position with motion, she was sure she could figure out why the world had killed her Guardian... _again_. She couldn't think of anything, though. Her mind was so clouded and foggy that she could barely even control her own body, much less think on the level that she once had, before Austin died... before _Carter _died...

She decided that lingering on the reality would only bring her into a deeper depression, so she tried to remember brighter days. A lot of things came to mind, but one in particular came back to her, fresh in her mind.

_~flashback~_

_The tree they were sitting in rocked back in forth with the strong wind that howled through the forest. He had his arms around her, though. She felt safe and warm in his long, strong arms. He was sitting on a thick branch with his back to the trunk of the tree and her back to his stomach. He kissed the back of her head lightly, causing warmth to radiate all throughout her body from that one contact point._

"_Name a shape," he whispered into her ear._

_She giggled. "Okay... an umbrella."_

_She felt rather than saw him smile. "You always did think outside of the box, didn't you?"_

"_I suppose... Now, why did you ask me to pick a shape?"_

_He slid his smooth hand down her right arm and enveloped her hand in his. Then, he balled up her fingers into a fist except for her pointer finger. He lifted her arm up with his as he pointed to the stars up in the velvety-blue night sky. Slowly, he began to move her arm in strange motions, and for a bit, Julianna had no idea what he was doing. Then she saw it. He was tracing the outline of an umbrella in the stars. She gasped slightly._

"_Wow..." she said. "I thought that there were only the basic constellations."_

"_The stars can be anything you want them to be. You just have to use a little imagination. Which I knew you had plenty of."_

_She laughed and rested her head back on his left shoulder. He leaned down and kissed her right temple. She sighed contentedly. _

"_Do you have strong feelings for me?" she asked hesitantly._

"_Do I have strong feelings for you?" he repeated, seemingly in shock. "Julianna, **I love you**."_

"_What about me do you love?"_

"_Everything. I love how your feathers bristle when you're cold or how you make a funny face when you're thinking really hard. I love how you like to eat your soup using crackers in the place of a spoon, and I love how your eyes sparkle when you talk about horses. I adore how you'd rather read books all day in the corner than talk or be with people. I'm captivated when you speak about something you're passionate about because your eyes always take on a forbidding glow, daring anyone to oppose you. I love your perfections and your flaws because they're the things that make you beautiful."_

_She smiled and tilted her head so that her forehead rested on his neck. She inhaled deeply. He smelled of cinnamon and the forest. Deep, deep down, though, he smelled like her. His scent was mixed in with hers, and it smelled good. He tilted her chin up with his pointer finger and looked into her eyes._

"_Gosh you're eyes are so beautiful," he whispered._

"_No they're not," she whispered back. "They're dingy and dull and never stay the same color for long."_

"_They're full of life and hope, not dull and dingy, and I think it's exotic how your eyes always change color," he said, giving her a drop dead smile._

_He was a handsome boy, that was for sure. His stunning blue eyes sparkled brighter than the stars themselves even in the darkness of night. His raven black hair created a shocking contrast to the lightness of his eyes. It was shocking and beautiful. He was far from being perfect, though. His lips were slightly too thin, and his mouth was altogether a bit too small. His nose was slightly too big, too. These things had never mattered to her, though. He was still absolutely gorgeous._

_He leaned down and lightly brushed his soft lips against hers. Then, came back with more of a kiss the second time. Julianna inwardly sighed. She wanted it to stay like this forever. She wanted to freeze herself in this very moment and live in it until the end of time itself. They broke off from each other, and she looked into his striking blue eyes again. Then, she uttered the very words that had been catching at the back of her throat for what felt like a century._

"_I love you, too, Carter."_

_~end flashback~_

Julianna smiled bitterly to herself. If only she'd known then what she knew now. If only she had guarded her heart. If only... If only... Now she was sitting there with a broken heart for a second time, repeating the same two questions over and over again in her mind. _Why me? Why again?_

_~L~_

**Yes, yes. Austin's dead. And yes, you have now officially met Carter. ^^ I know it wasn't very eventful in the action category, but it's longer than the last two chapters, and I had a major case of writers' block! D': It. Was. Horrible. O.O**

**And now, an appearance long overdue... LET IT RAIN JARS OF PEANUT BUTTER! XD**

**R&R NOW! Pless? :'O**

**~Sugar**


	26. When All Looks Hopeless

**Hey, so I'm trying my hardest to make my updates faster. And I failed... :'(**

**Disclaimer: Nuh uh. -_-**

_~L~_

Abbigale and Drew rushed through the camp to get back to the medic tent. Austin's death had ripped their hearts out. They couldn't even imagine what it was doing to Julianna a second time. After what seemed like an eternity of dodging people scrambling about to clean up the mess that had been left in the bomb's wake, they arrived at the medic tent where a couple shrapnel and burn victims were being treated.

They looked around, but couldn't find their friend. Then, Abbigale saw her. She was huddled in the farthest corner away from them, rocking back and forth on her feet, looking like an undead angel. They approached her quietly as if she were a wild animal that they didn't want to scare away. She looked up at Abbigale when they got within touching distance.

Her eyes were glistening with unshed tears, and she had gray circles under her eyes as if she had stayed up all last night. Her skin was a ghostly pale, her hair a dirty blonde color. She was biting on her nails and the skin on the pad of her thumb. She was a far cry from the bubbly teenager that they had known only a few hours ago.

Abbigale knelt down beside her and put her hand on the other girl's arm, Julianna's eyes following her every move. "We heard what happened."

The blonde just stared at her as if she hadn't said anything. "He didn't suffer. It wasn't a painful death, Julianna. Besides, he's in a better place now," Drew said.

Julianna's eyes clouded up with anger, and she looked back down at the grassy floor. Abbi glared at him, but he looked at her innocently, not knowing what he'd done wrong. The medic shivered and brought her head down to her knees. No. She hadn't shivered. She had shuddered with suppressed tears. She didn't want to cry in front of them.

The brunette understood this immediately. "You don't have to be strong all the time. Everyone cries, you know. You just lost your Guardian. The first step is letting it out."

Julianna looked up into the distance. She stood shakily and walked out of the tent with Drew and Abbigale close behind. Her pace started to pick up, and pretty soon, she was full out running. They reached the forest that wasn't too far from the Guardian medic tent, and she kept running further until they were a good distance away from everyone and everything in the camp.

Suddenly, she stopped, her friends following suit. She started to hyperventilate, and they knew she was about to cry. The tears started pouring down her cheeks, but instead of her letting out wails of agony, she screamed. Abbi and Drew were sure the people back at the camp could hear her cries even all the way out there.

The medic spun around and punched the tree nearest her as hard as she could, and considering she was a mutant bird kid, that was pretty hard. She left a watermelon-sized crater in the side of the giant tree, but the bark also took its toll on her fist. Her knuckled were oozing blood with little, jagged pieces of wood sticking out. The blood trickled down her fingers and dripped on the ground. The flesh surrounding the wound looked red and irritated.

She almost punched the tree again, but Drew held her fist back. "Stop hurting yourself!" he commanded.

He didn't understand! He would _never_ understand! The pain of true loss was horrible enough, but going through that twice was unbearable! Maybe if she could just find something more painful. Maybe it would distract her from the stabbing pain in her heart. It was all futile, though. She knew it. There was no greater pain than that of the heart.

She tried to push him away, but he held onto her arm, keeping her from injuring herself further. Abbigale came up behind her and took her other arm. Then, Julianna couldn't scream. She couldn't run. She couldn't hurt herself physically. The gut-wrenching sobs that were building up in her throat choked her. She felt them rising up in her trachea. They finally reached her mouth, and she began to weep. She cried for Austin and Carter to come back and all the patients she'd had that hadn't made it and all the other Seraphs who must be weeping at this very moment because of the loss of their Guardians. She sobbed because the world was cruel, and everything bad that could've happened to her did.

Abbigale wrapped her arms around her friend's shoulders and held her while she cried. She murmured things to her, agreeing with her about how unfair the world was. Drew couldn't understand a single word the medic was sobbing out, but he rubbed her arm comfortingly and let his Seraph do all the talking.

"It's so unfair!" Julianna screamed. "I had this amazing person come into my life! He understood me and loved me like I'd never felt before! And then he _died_! And then just when I met another great person who loved me just as much, he died, too!"

"I know. The world is so unfair."

"But you have no idea what this feels like!" she sobbed into her friend's shoulder.

"No. You're right. I don't, but I have a pretty good idea."

"No! No, no, no, no, no!" she cried, shaking her head as she said it. Then a whole new onslaught of tears attacked Julianna's body, and she fell to her knees, numb with the pain.

After a long time, the tears finally stopped coming, and a vacant look overcame the medic's eyes. They walked back to the tent together, and once they entered, Julianna's head snapped up. She looked around at all the suffering people in her medic tent, and she immediately wanted to help them. She could just drown her sorrows in her work.

She ran to the closest person to her, a burn victim, who was having his wounds wrapped by a nurse. "No, no," she said. "You're doing it all wrong. You're making the layers too thick. You don't wanna squeeze too hard on the wound. It'll cause too much pain. Plus, you need to make the wrap even. If the pressure's uneven, then that'll cause discomfort, too."

Julianna unwrapped the bandage and did it over again with a softer hand and a more even wrap. Some sort of fire came back into her eyes as she was doing that. It was as if she went back to a time when things were better, and she remembered why she was a medic. It was because of all the death she had seen. She vowed to never let another Seraph go through what she had gone through twice now, and she would keep it!

When she looked up from her patient, she saw more people in need of help. She immediately rushed to help the very few medics they had. Drew and Abbi smiled at each other. Even if only a fragment of their friend was back, it was better than nothing.

Certain that Julianna was going to be okay, they exited the tent and went back to their group. The battle was rapidly approaching, and they needed to be ready.

"Is everything secure?" Abbigale asked her Guardian like a mother sending her child off to school.

"Yes, yes. Well, if by everything you mean the one bulletproof vest that I have, then of course."

She furrowed her brow. When it came to worrying, she was an expert. "Be careful."

"Relax. The time hasn't even come yet. And besides, Julianna made this. I'm sure she would make it as absolutely stable as possible."

This thought seemed to calm her a bit, but she would never stop worrying until this whole thing was over. She frowned again.

"What is it, Abbi?"

"It's just... We both know how she was after Carter died. What's going to happen now that Austin's dead, too? What'll happen to her? I mean, she's emotionally unstable right now. In the future, she could end up being mentally unstable, too, right?"

Drew frowned then, too. "I'm sure she'll pull through. She has a strong spirit."

Abbi shook her head. "No. She only has a strong spirit when other people are there to protect it, too. Right now, she's completely vulnerable."

He put an arm around her shoulders and gave her a first rate grin. "Then we'll just have to be there to protect it, now won't we?"

She blushed slightly and smiled, turning her gaze to the ground. She looked up off into the horizon and immediately frowned again.

"What is it now?"

She didn't respond but simply pointed to her line of vision. There, gathered on the horizon was a massive congregation of dark purple figures. The Vespers were here.

_~L~_

_Four hour time skip..._

Drew panted heavily as he sprinted toward the medic tent. A medium-sized Guardian was slung over his shoulder, blood trickling along with sweat down his back from the boy's wounds. This was the eleventh person he'd saved in the last three hours.

The Vespers had thought of everything. They had every weapon known to man from the 1700s to the present. This included catapults that they loaded up with bombs.

Finally, he reached the large black tent that had a mixture of both Guardians and Seraphs. He set the boy down inside the tent in what little space they had left on the floor. Every fifteen minutes, they brought in more and more soldiers, and every fifteen minutes, there were more and more being taken out because of failure to survive.

He hesitated for a second to find Julianna to make sure she hadn't broke down again. He spotted her urgently working on a Seraph who had gotten mauled by a mace. Her back was facing him, but he could tell by the steady way she worked that she was still okay.

He rushed out of the tent and into the humid afternoon air. He couldn't do anything else now. He had to prepare for his task up ahead. The hour was rapidly approaching for him to soar straight into the heart of the Vesper army and obliterate them once and for all. Thankfully, their forces had been depleting as well, but it wasn't nearly as much as theirs.

A strong gust of wind ruffled his hair as yet another group leaped into the skies to take on their adversaries. For a split second, he wished that he could be one of them, that he wasn't burdened with this impossibly important task. He shook his head. What was he even thinking? It was meant to be him from the start. The director had planned on a final battle such as this to occur, so she made out a strategy. He was always meant to be the bomb carrier. Why? He didn't know.

He felt a gush of worry flow through him like an urgent stream. Abbigale could sense the time was coming, too. No... Her worry wasn't directed toward him. It was more like an impending doom that loomed over her and everyone around her. He frowned and suddenly felt the urge to know what was troubling her.

He started to run toward the battlefield that had been set right in front of the camp border. Finally, he reached the hill that overlooked the whole gruesome scene. His heart sank at what he saw. Advancing up behind the now failing Vesper forces was another gigantic militia. The Vespers had reinforcements... and the War Hawks didn't.

_~L~_

**Okay, so I'm horrible at action scenes, so I didn't want to put anything that would reveal my true lack in literary skill... :/ So probably the only real action is going to be a bit later on. Don't worry, it's coming! ^^ **

**Oh, and one more thing. One of my best friends here on FF (among many) isn't allowed to read T rated stories, so I considered changing TWH to K plus. Do you think that would be too inappropriately rated? I mean, I wouldn't think so, but you never know, right?**

**This is unbeta'd because I want to get this chapter up as soon as possible. :)**

**I love you all! :D *passes out jars of peanut butter* *passes out waffles to people who are allergic***

**~Sugar**


	27. Changing Fate

**Oh, my word! I've been away for sooooo long! D: I'm sorry! I got grounded for a really long time, and then I was rust after that, so it took me a longer time to write this than usual. My deepest apologies. :'(**

**Disclaimer: Blah blah blah**

_~L~_

The wind blew in Amy's face as their group took to the skies and rocketed toward the battlefield. Both excitement and dread welled up inside her chest, creating a big knot of tangled emotions. She looked over at Ian who flew beside her. His muscles were tense, and his jaw was constantly working. His movements were calm and collected, but he held a certain air of wildness about him. His eyes were fixed on the horizon ahead of them. She watched the muscles in his back work effortlessly with each powerful stroke of his wings.

She felt her heart syncing in to his and her wings beating with the same rhythm that he held. Their bond both confused and amazed her at the same time. They could never read each other's minds, but they could make a really good guess depending on the emotions that emanated from them. Right now, Ian was tense.

"Dive!" she heard her group commander exclaim. Instantly, everyone dove for the ground, not even slowing as they neared it. She pulled up at the very last second and plowed into a group of Vespers, effectively taking care of them. Her wings felt like they were about to be ripped off, though. The muscles ached right where they connected with her back.

She scrambled to her feet and delivered a roundhouse kick to an enemy's chest. She unsheathed her sword, brandishing it as she went, and delivering a fatally large wound to a foe's chest. Her enemies seemed to be closing in on her from all sides. She saw a flash of metal and barely had time to react before a giant two-edged blade came crashing down on her. She put her own weapon up at the last second, barely saving her life.

She felt a swirling mixture of emotions enter her mind, and she suddenly had a thought that she knew wasn't from her own consciousness. _Skies. Skies. Skies._ The word flitted through her brain repeatedly in a whisper so low she could barely make out the word. _Advantage from the skies._

Quickly, she pushed off from the ground and launched herself into the skies. She saw Ian gliding down toward a group of Vespers, sword in hand. Even from the distance, she could see the burning fury in his eyes. He wasn't going for the group, she realized. He was going for one specific person with a giant two-edged sword. Before she could even gasp, Ian had decapitated him and shot back up into the hovering masses above the battlefield. He quickly found her and shot to her side.

"You almost got killed in there!" he exclaimed.

"This is a battle! It kind of can't be helped."

He shook his head and looked at her sternly. "Don't be so foolish, and don't run off again. I almost had a panic attack because I couldn't find you."

"I don't need you to do everything for me. I'm a good fighter!"

A bullet whizzed past Amy's ear and shot out into nothingness. Ian's eyes grew wide. "This isn't exactly the time to be having this discussion! Now would you _please _at least stay within ten feet of me?"

Amy nodded, too scared to argue. Together they charged back into the fray, jabbing and dodging attacks.

_~L~_

_Two hours later..._

Amy's arms burned with exhaustion. Every muscle in her body screamed and begged for her to stop moving and just rest, but she couldn't. Not until every single Vesper was eliminated. Her breath came in gasps, and sweat streamed down her forehead and into her eyes.

Blood trickled out of various wounds on her body that she had attained over the hours. The injuries hurt, but she didn't have _nearly_ as many as her Guardian. He had a large gash above his right eye, a shallow but long cut across his chest, a cut on his calf, and small stab wound on his back. She tried her best to protect him like he did her, but she wasn't ever fast enough.

She knew she couldn't hold her ground much longer, so she delivered a fatal blow to an enemy before rapidly taking to the skies and hovering with the dwindling mass. Ian wasn't far behind. His face was ghostly pale and his breath quick and short, but he still looked like he could fight off a whole hoard of Vespers.

"Are you okay?" he asked her between gasps. She simply nodded and tried to catch her breath.

"I just needed a minute to catch my breath," she said after she had finally gotten her respiration under control.

He nodded and looked down at the enemy. The Vespers were dwindling but not fast enough. The War Hawks were going far swifter than they were. There were only a few groups left from battalions three and four. Everyone else was dead except for a very few including Ian and Amy.

Suddenly, something caught her eye. Group ten of battalion four was rocketing toward the battlefield. Abbigale was near the front, a determined look on her face. Drew was nowhere to be seen. She knew why. She remembered what the director had said in their meeting.

_~flashback~_

"_The War Hawks will be divided into four big divisions. Those groups with be divided into ten subdivisions. Each subdivision will have two hundred soldiers in it. The subdivisions will be deployed in numerical order according to the division and subdivision. _

_This strategy will weaken the opposing forces over time by sending wave after wave of attacks. Then, when they're at their weakest, we deliver the final blow and take them out forever."_

_~end flashback~_

The mass of two hundred violently attacked the enemy. Their fresh rage gave them power and adrenaline that everyone else had lost long ago.

Another half and hour went by, and more and more people fell on both sides. Then, she saw him. He was flying up behind the mass of Vespers, their army completely unaware of their nearing demise. Amy's sharp eyes picked up the time written digitally on the side of the bomb. She gasped. He must have accidentally hit the button a few minutes ago. He was never going to make it in time! There were only a few more seconds left!

She bolted over to him, using up every last ounce of energy she had to make it to him. Once she got a few feet away from him, everything seemed to be happening in slow motion. Drew threw the bomb as hard as he could at the ground that was so far away. The bomb started detonating before it reached the ground. The Vespers looked up and were engulfed fully in the fiery explosion. The realization came to her that they weren't up high enough to escape the flames a split second before the explosion reached them. Amy went supersonic for a moment, rocketing her an Drew toward the ground. The fire inundated them despite her efforts, and a horrible, searing pain flared up all over her body. Way in the back of her mind, she could hear someone calling her name, but she couldn't tell who it was exactly.

She fell to the ground with a loud thump, Drew landing just seconds before. Pain completely flooded her mind and body, and all she felt like was sleeping right then. So she let the darkness envelope her and relief come to her soul.

_~L~_

"Amy. Amyyy. Amy, wake up now." A voice poked into her consciousness and summoned her from slumber. She tried to resist, unsure of whether she would be able to handle the pain that lay beyond the comfort of sleep. It was futile. Light flooded her senses, and she readied herself for agony. Surprisingly, it never came. She frowned and opened her eyes.

She was laying down in a beautiful field with lush green grass and lovely wildflowers surrounding her. A teenage boy sat across from her, looking at her with curious blue eyes, his head cocked slightly to the side. A pure white rabbit sat in his lap. She sat up sleepily and rubbed her eyes.

"Who... who are you?" she asked, still recovering from waking up.

"_What _are _you_?" he asked with a sly smile.

"I'm a human. My name is Amy Cahill. Dan Cahill is my brother. My parents were Arthur Trent and Hope Cahill. I'm a Seraph, and my Guardian is Ian Kabra."

He frowned and shook his head. "You just told me _who_ you are. _What _are you?"

"I... I'm a sister and a friend and a daughter. What are _you_?"

He smiled. "I'm a lover and a fighter. To answer your first question, I'm Carter Smith."

Amy's eyes widened. "You're Julianna dead Guardian!" -she gasped- "Am... am I dead?"

He laughed heartily and shook his head. "No, no. You're no more dead than I am."

Amy was puzzled by this statement. "But... you died."

"No, I was taken away. A Guardian can't truly die without his Seraph. They're stuck here for the rest of their partner's life."

"The bond is that strong that it doesn't even let you _die_?"

Carter nodded. "There are some pros to this, though. I'm not bound to a body like I used to be. I can use my full brain capacity unlike everyone else who can only use ten percent. I can do so much more than I used to. I can even alter the physical world. To an extent, of course. I'm certainly not God."

Amy thought about that for a minute. "Hold on a second. It's... it's you! You're the mastermind behind this whole thing! It was you who brought Ian and I together! It was you who saved me from that trap that was set for me! Your little bunny thing moved me to the side! You sent me those dreams!"

He smiled a bit and closed his eyes. "Yes."

"I... I just don't get it, though. What special thing was I supposed to do?"

He opened them again immediately. "You just did it! You just accomplished one of the most incredible feats that anyone could ever claim to do."

"Wh-what?"

"You changed what was supposed to happen. You went against the odds and pulled Drew away from the fiery explosion. All it had to start with was the idea that Drew didn't have to die."

"Wait... So that dream that I had once where I was chasing people but could never catch up to them. You were telling me who was going to die, weren't you?"

He nodded. "I put your parents first to make sure you understood what I was saying, then Drew, then Julianna." His voice softened as he said his Seraph's name, and his eyes took on a thoughtful look.

"Is Julianna-"

"You'll have to see," he interrupted. "Only God knows what's going to really happen."

She nodded. "What about that other dream I had? The one where Drew and Ian died."

He looked off into the distance. "Well, I would assume that half of that question has already been answered. The other half, well, I can't say."

Amy sighed. She hated being in the dark. Suddenly, a thought came to her. "Is Austin here?"

Carter frowned. "Yes, but he's not waiting for Julianna."

"What? But he-"

"Yes, yes, he was Julianna's Guardian, but he was never meant for her. He only fell in love with her, and they were both mutants by chance. He was meant for some other girl that had no idea he exists. Or rather, exist_ed_."

Suddenly, she felt something pulling on her body, beckoning her to leave that perfect meadow. "I think it's time for you to return to the real world," Carter said.

She felt herself slipping more and more, and Carter started getting fuzzier. "Try focusing on a sensation other than pain. It helps in one's most desperate hours," he said as a final farewell. With that, Carter and the meadow were gone.

_~L~_

**Okay, so I know the whole Carter thing is kind of funky, but I thought it was cool! :P This is unbeta'd because Kiminator is preoccupied with Professor Layton and the Curious Village at the moment. (I'm on the Diabolical Box! XD) **

**This chapter of The War Hawks is brought to you by: caffeine. "When absolutely nothing else will keep your eyes open."**

**This chapter is also dedicated to .Death. who WON'T STOP BOTHERING ME ABOUT UPDATING! D: Oh, and it's also dedicated to a really weird reviewer named . Yes... I...I suppose you can have custard if you really want it... *whispers* Soooo weeeeeiiird. But anyway, your review made me laugh really hard, so I can't do anything less than dedicating this one for you and giving you a huge helping of custard. :) *hands everyone custard* R&R!**

**~Sugar**


	28. Ready, Set, Let Go

**Okay, this is a more depressing chapter. Don't kill me because of it! I'm forewarning you, after all! D:**

**Disclaimer: No.**

_~L~_

Pain. That's all she could feel. Pain in her head. Pain in her legs. Pain in her whole entire body. Amy opened her eyes to find that she was laying down on a slightly cushy cot with pristine white sheets and a pillow under her head. She inhaled deeply and recognized the scent of clover. This was Ian's pillow. This was Ian's mat.

She tried sitting up, but agony immediately exploded all throughout her body. She propped herself up on her elbows and looked around. Every single cot in the tent was full, and some patients were lying on the ground. Everyone was covered in bandages, and it seemed like there was blood everywhere. She looked to her left and saw Drew lying down on his cot, covered in white gauze. Some of his wounds showed through, though, and she saw multiple burns on his body. From the feel of her injuries, she guessed she looked about the same. He looked peaceful and content in his sleep, and Amy wondered if he was visiting that same perfect meadow that she had recently seen.

She found it so strange, though. That whole experience seemed so surreal. It felt like it didn't even happen. She knew it did, though. No extent of her imagination could conjure up something so fantastic.

She looked to her right and saw Ian. She gasped. His face was deathly pale, and he was consumed in bandages. Blood peeked through occasionally here or there. He did _not_ look good.

"I'm telling you! There's nothing we can do!" came a passionate voice from her left a ways away. "The boy's lost too much blood already! A surgery like that would completely suck him of life. The best we can do is give him the most time we can before death overcomes him."

"Can't you get some blood! There must have been donors before the battle even started!"

"Yes, but Ian has a negative blood type. No one else in the camp that we know of has a negative blood type, and even if they did, I doubt they'd be in any shape to give."

Amy's heart stopped. Ian. They were talking about her Guardian. She saw the source of the conversation was coming from a nurse she'd never seen before and Juliana who wanted to give Ian the surgery. The blonde medic suddenly turned to her and smiled tightly.

"Amy. I didn't know you were conscious," she said.

"You're... you're just going to let him die?"

Julianna's eyes welled up with tears when she heard the helplessness in Amy's voice. "There's... there's nothing we can do. I'm sorry."

Abbigale sat up in her cot on the other side of the isle from Amy. "Are you sure? There's nothing?"

Julianna looked down at her feet, and a determined expression made it's way onto her features. "No... I'm not sure. I... I have a negative blood type like he does. I could give."

The nurse looked at Julianna. "The amount of blood we need for the surgery is everything you have in your body."

The blonde hardened her expression and nodded. "I know full well."

"What? No! You can't do that, Julianna! You can't just throw away your life like that!" Abbigale protested.

"I gave a vow to never let anyone else go through what I went through as long as I could help it. Well, I can help it now, and not doing this would be breaking that vow. I just can't live my life watching Amy suffer, knowing that I could have saved Ian. Besides, Austin's gone. The only person I'd be hurting by my death would be me ultimately."

"What about me? What about Drew? We're your best friends, and we love you!"

Julianna didn't answer for a while. "When I was almost killed the first time I came here with Carter, I had a vision when I was on the brink of death. It told me that Ian Kabra was going to be the death of me one day. It's only now that I know what that means. I went my whole life thinking that he was going to kill me or something, but... now I see that I have to give my life to save him. I have to do this, Abbigale. I think... I think this is why Austin had to die. So I could do this."

The brunette didn't respond but just put her head in her hands and started sobbing. "Please don't do this!" she wailed.

Julianna went over to her bed and pulled her to her feet and into an embrace. "Try to see reason. The battle is over. The rest of the medics can take it from here. Drew's condition has stabilized, and he'll live. There's no definite reason for me to stay here. I'd just be dead weight. This is what I need to do."

Abbigale weeped into her shoulder. "I'm going to miss you. _So much_."

"You have to let me go," she said. Then she whispered something only Abbigale could hear, and with that, she broke off the embrace and followed the nurse outside to walk to the Guardian tent where the needles were. Abbigale plopped back onto her cot, and cried herself back to sleep where her dreams portrayed a brighter world where everyone she loved was still alive.

_~L~_

Drew woke up from a deep sleep to find that the pain in his body had lessened slightly than when he had been caught in the bomb on the battlefield. He endured the agony just enough to sit up on his cot and examine his surroundings. Amy was on his right. Her head was in her hands, and she looked up at him when she heard him moving around. Her skin was red and blotchy as if she had just been crying.

"Hey," she said with a small smile.

"What happened?" he asked. "Why were you crying?"

"Always right to the point, huh?"

"What happened?" he asked again, a bit more demanding.

"Listen... Ian was-"

"Ian! Is he okay?"

"Yes, he's fine. But..."

"But what?"

"Julianna..."

"Where is she?"

"She... Drew, she's gone."

His eyes widened in shock and then narrowed. "I don't believe you! She was in the medic tent! She was safe!"

"Ian needed blood for a surgery. She was the only person in the camp who had type negative blood to give. We tried to stop her, but... she had to give it all."

"Stop lying to me! She's okay! I know it!"

Amy looked at the empty cot across the isle from her and smiled sadly. "Go look for yourself. She's in the Guardian medic tent."

Drew ignored the instant pain that screamed in his body and raced out of the white tent flaps toward the other medic tent. He got there quickly and tore through the opening in the black tarp. He looked around frantically and saw Abbigale sitting next to a cot in the far left corner of the tent. Her back was to him, and her shoulders were shaking like she was crying.

He cautiously approached her and saw at what she was crying about. Julianna lay on the cot. Her skin was pale and shiny. The veins in her arms and wrists that usually protruded were nowhere to be seen. Abbigale was holding her cold, clammy hand, grasping it like it was the only thing that was keeping her from insanity. She looked up at her Guardian with tears flowing freely down her face.

"I... I couldn't stop her." Then she burst into tears and sobbed over the cold, dead body of her best friend.

_~L~_

**Ah! I'm so cruel, am I not? Please don't kill me! She's in a happier place now! She's with Carter now! :D **

**Anyway, my dear Ungratefulcustardeater, you never specified! You just said "custard" not "_frozen_ custard"! Oh, and I also know it's you, Drewby. Who else would TYPE in an accent, and you're the only one I know who would contradict me just to make me feel like a jerk. Don't go pulling this "I don't have any Internet" stuff when you're TALKING TO ME ON FACEBOOK WHICH USES THE INTERNET! *shakes head* You're such a mean person. :(**

**YAAAAAYZ! I have over 200 reviews! :P Special thanks to my 200th reviewer, 200th reviewer you know me. I'm not sure if I do haha. :)**

**R&R!**

**~Sugar**


	29. Promise

**Okay, so I know what you're all thinking... "Sugar! YOU'VE BEEN GONE FOREVER!" And yes. Yes, I have. :/ But I'm here nowz! :D And this is the last chapter of The War Hawks. :'( But worry not, dear readers! I have some amazing ideas for some awesome multi chap stories! :) I'm just not sure which one to use as of now... Now, ON WITH THE STORY! :D**

**Waaaaaait. Disclaimer first. :/ I own none of the characters! Or the wings! Or the poem "Death" by Emily Bronte! Just the plot line. :)**

_~L~_

_My body is a cage that keeps me from dancing _

_with the one I love._

_~L~_

Amy looked around at the congregation of people gathered for the memorial service. Ian stood at her right. Dan stood at her left. Both of them had bandages all over their bodies.

Dan had been stupid enough to actually go and try to fight them. She had been furious and wanted to punish him until he begged for mercy, but the look on his face said it all. He had already been punished over and over again when he had to watch his comrades die in front of his eyes.

As for Ian, after he found out that Julianna had given her life to save him, he blamed it on himself. Everyone had told him over and over again that it wasn't his fault, that she wanted to die for him, but every time he saw the pain in her friends' eyes, he felt guilt beyond comparison. The only thing that made him feel better was the fact that he could still be with Amy on the earth. Someday, maybe he could even see Natalie again.

After they had jumped out of the plane, she had been sent back to England to wait until Isabel returned. That would never happen, though. Isabel had been destroyed in the blast as well as the rest of the Vesper army... and the War Hawk army. They had won Pyrrhic battle.

So as Amy gazed at the people around her, she realized that they were the lucky ones. They were the few hundred survivors out of a mighty eight thousand warriors with hearts of gold.

The director stood up in front of the congregation to speak, but the words came out as a blur to her. Her mind couldn't seem to make sense of the speech that their leader was presenting them with. It was because there were no words to say. There wasn't anything anyone could say or do to bring back these valiant souls. They were gone forever. So as those that had died lay in silence for eternity, couldn't they be silent for a few minutes to honor them? What could anyone possibly have to say that could make anything better? What could anyone possibly have to say that could be worthwhile? So her brain blocked out the petty noises. She made her own silence.

Ian could sense her thoughts and emotions and turned an understanding gaze toward his Seraph. He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into a sideways embrace. She leaned into him but kept her eyes on the ground in front of her.

Before she knew it, the director had finished speaking, and the Seraphs whose Guardians had been killed came to the front of the gathering. The number of them was astonishing. Nearly half of the congregation had came forward. They held each other's hands, and the rest of the War Hawks went to them and put their hands on their shoulders. This was a symbol of everlasting friendship and a comforting gesture. Amy's heart broke for these weeping women who were alone now because of a war that they hadn't even wanted to get into.

Suddenly, a thought popped into her mind. She wondered if it came from her own head because it was unlike her, but it was even more unlike Ian. The look on his face told her that he had thought it, though. He swallowed hard and worked his jaw. She could tell that he was fighting himself inwardly whether to do what he wanted to do or to preserve his dignity. The latter choice soon faded, and Ian pushed his way to the middle of the crowd.

Everyone had their eyes on him, and he felt heat traveling up his neck to his ears and cheeks. He wished he could sink back into the crowd. No. He had to do this. This was something that he had to say. This was something that he had to remind people. He searched the depths of his memory for the poem he had in mind and took a deep breath.

" 'Death! that struck when I was most confiding

In my certain faith of joy to be -

Strike again, Time's withered branch dividing

From the fresh root of Eternity!

Leaves, upon Time's branch, were growing brightly,

Full of sap, and full of silver dew;

Birds beneath its shelter gathered nightly;

Daily round its flowers the wild bees flew.

Sorrow passed, and plucked the golden blossom;

Guilt stripped off the foliage in its pride;

But, within its parent's kindly bosom,

Flowed for ever Life's restoring-tide.

Little mourned I for the parted gladness,

For the vacant nest and silent song -

Hope was there, and laughed me out of sadness;

Whispering, "Winter will not linger long!"

And, behold! with tenfold increase blessing,

Spring adorned the beauty-burdened spray;

Wind and rain and fervent hear, caressing,

Lavished glory on that second May!

High it rose – no winged grief could sweep it;

Sin was scared to distance with its shine;

Love, and its own life, had power to keep it

From all wrong – from every blight but thine!

Cruel Death! The young leaves droop and languish;

Evening's gentle air may still restore -

No! the morning sunshine mocks my anguish -

Time, for me, must never blossom more!

Strike it down, that other boughs may flourish

Where that perished sapling used to be;

Thus, at least, its mouldering corpse will nourish

That from which it sprung – Eternity."

Everyone looked at Ian for a long time. He swallowed and felt his face grow even redder. "Look, what this poem is saying is that death doesn't last forever. People always say that when someone you love dies, you're never going to see them again." -Ian's voice faltered on the last few words- "But I believe that there is no such thing. I believe that someday you _will_ see them again. You _will_ hold them again. I believe that death can't stop love; it can only delay it for a while."

"So don't lose hope. Don't just waste away in your sadness. Take heart! Where are you, women of courage? Where are you, women of hope? Live the life that your Guardians and _thousands_ of others gave their lives to save! Dry your tears! We have a reason to be happy! We won the battle! The valiant beings who have died today have _not_ lost their lives in vain!"

Silence ensued Ian's noble speech. They just looked at him for a long time. Suddenly, someone near the back started to clap. Then another person followed suit. Soon the whole crowd erupted in a deafening roar of applause.

_~L~_

Drew, Abbigale, Amy, and Ian stood into the woods next to Carter's memorial. A new addition had been added to the site. Now a small statue of pure white, marble wings stood proudly next to it. The inscription on the base read, "_Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow_." It was one of Julianna's favorite quotes, and her friends figured that it'd be what she'd want.

Abbigale dug into her pockets and pulled out Julianna's half of the broken heart necklace and hung it on one of the wings like Carter's was draped over his stone. Drew couldn't help but remember a moment early on in their friendship that he'd taken for granted.

_~flashback~_

_Julianna stood before him in the choir loft and gave him a sideways look. "Drew, I need to ask you a question," she said quietly._

_He quirked an eyebrow, encouraging her to continue. She looked down at her fingers, suddenly becoming sheepish. "Would you... would you cry if I died?"_

_Her question caught him off guard, and he looked at her in surprise. "Why do you want to know?"_

_She shrugged. "I was only curious." _

_The look in her eyes said differently, but he didn't question her. Instead, he focused on answering her inquiry. He thought for a moment, looking off into the distance and looked back at her when he was finished._

"_No," he said. "No, I don't think so."_

_His friend smiled at him with an almost imperceptible hint of disappointment and hurt in her expression. "Okay," she said in a voice that seemed to sweet to be hers. "I was only wondering."_

_~end flashback~_

It was only now that he realized that she'd known what she was asking. She was perfectly aware of her fate, and she wondered whether he would miss her, whether he would regret her death. In the nonchalance of the moment, he had answered wrongly. He had been untruthful. He registered this as he felt the hot liquid of sorrow roll down his cheeks. He smiled, though. He smiled and was happy because he knew she could see him now. He wiped the tears from his eyes and looked over at Ian and Amy.

The latter looked like she got hit by a bus, and the former looked like someone had just killed his new puppy. Drew wondered whether it was only because of the fact that they shared emotions that they were both so sad-looking.

"If it weren't for me, we wouldn't even be doing this right now," Ian said finally.

"No. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have gotten distracted, and you wouldn't have been so mortally wounded. I'm the one at fault."

"Hey, neither of you are at fault," Abbigale said. "If it weren't for Ian, Amy wouldn't be alive right now, and if it weren't for Amy, Drew wouldn't be alive right now."

"But she didn't have to die," Ian protested.

"If she hadn't, Austin would have died for nothing."

The Kabra thought of this for a moment and shut his mouth. That was, after all, what part of his speech had been about.

Abbigale sighed after a moment of silence and said, "I wish I could stay here with her all day, but standing around won't help the wounded heal and the strong clean up after the battle. We should go soon."

The other three agreed with her and turned to leave. When they were a few yards away, Abbi suddenly stopped in her tracks and ran back to Julianna's memorial. She bent down and whispered, "You had better keep your promise. I'll be listening."

As she ran back to the group to take Drew's hand, the wind blew stronger than usual for a second as if confirming that Julianna had heard.

_~L~_

_A Week Later..._

Ian stood in front of Amy at midday. Hundreds of other Guardians stood in similar positions with their Seraphs in a large field at the edge of the camp. The was a soft murmur of words being exchanged between lovers floating in the air above their heads. The Lucian looked at his Seraph for a long time. She had a pained expression on her features, and this alone made him ache. They had both known for a good five days that Ian was going to leave for a bit, but that didn't make saying goodbye any easier, even if it was only for a little while.

"How long will you be gone?" Amy asked.

"I don't know," he replied. "A few months. A year at the most."

The redhead sighed and rested her forehead on Ian's chest. He wrapped his arms around her body and pulled her as close as two beings could be. He tipped her chin up so she was looking up at him and pressed his lips to hers. He breathed her in through his nose. He wanted to be sure that he remembered exactly who she was – what she smelled like, what she looked like, what she tasted like.

Their kiss lasted only a few seconds before they broke apart. "I'll be back to you as soon as I can," he whispered to her.

"Why can't you take me with you?"

"I don't want you to be in harm's way."

She rolled her eyes. "Ian, I think I've been more than in harm's way. I fought in a battle, for Heaven's sake! With the Vespers!"

"I know, and I hated every second that you were in danger."

"Ian, please don't leave."

"Don't worry. I'll be back before summer comes around again," he told her encouragingly.

She sighed and broke from their embrace. "At least tell me where you're going."

He gave her a mischievous grin. "I can't tell you. It's a surprise."

"Ian," she said with all seriousness in her tone, "don't play that with me."

He sighed and looked up into the heavens as if begging God for some sort of divine strength. "Do you trust me?"

She paused before answering. "Of course I do."

"Well, then trust me on this. You'll know soon enough. I'll come back for you and take you with me, okay?"

Amy sighed heavily and ran her fingers through her hair. "Alright," she said finally.

He smiled triumphantly. "Good. I promise I'll hurry, Amy."

She couldn't help but smile at her Guardian's stupid grin. "You had better, Ian Kabra."

Ian stole a quick kiss from her lips and turned to take a running start into the sky. Before he took his first running step, though, he turned back to her with an even cheesier grin on his lips.

"One more thing before I go, love." -Amy quirked her eyebrow- "'Take care of my heart, for it will always be with you.'"

She burst into laughter and smacked him playfully on the arm. "You did _not_ just quote Twilight!"

He laughed along with her and turned to run. As he did, he looked back at her and shouted, "Please do, love! Please take care of it!"

With that, his powerful wings launched him into the air, and he disappeared into the cerulean oblivion in a few minutes. Amy watched the sky long after he was gone from sight. She stood there along with so many other Seraphs until the sky grew dark and then long after that, wondering to herself whether he meant what he said.

She put her hand over her heart and felt the steady beat of it beneath her flesh. She knew that somewhere out there, Ian's heart was beating at the exact same time with the exact same rhythm. She understood his words then. Their hearts beat as one. Their fates were intertwined forever. He had told her to take care of herself, for that was the only way she could take care of him.

She smiled to herself and looked up at the velvet, sequined sky. "I promise," she whispered.

_~L~_

**Oh. My. Word. I can't believe it's over! :'( I mean, I'm going to write an epilogue, but for the most part, it's done! D: Did you guys like it? Tell me what you thought please!**

**Oh, if you guys are wondering what a Pyrrhic battle is, it's a battle that was won but at a great cost. Like, it was so great a cost that you're not even sure if it was worth it.**

****** PLEASE READ! ******

**Okay, so I'm going through a crisis! I want to change my pen name, but everyone already knows me as SugarQueen8490. :/ What do you guys think? Should I change it or keep it the same? I mean, I have some really cool pen names in mind. Please tell me in a review or PM or something!**

**With lots of love,**

**~Sugar**


	30. Epilogue: New Beginnings

**You know what, people? You know what I just don't understand? You know what I just can't seem to grasp? The fact that the WORST one-shot– No. The WORST _story _I've ever written has more reviews, favorites, and alerts than any other of my one-shot combined. That just absolutely BAFFLES me. It's actually kind of disturbing... Would anyone like to explain to me what is so appealing about my awful story Next To You that I wrote when I was a young, stupid _newb_? Anyone?**

**Disclaimer: *growls* No.**

_~L~_

Abbigale struggled to calm her nerves as her friend Katy ushered her into the hallway. She was finding it harder and harder to catch her breath as she drew closer and closer to those huge, forbidding oak doors that separated her from her future.

"You look fantastic," Katy whispered to her before taking her place in line in front of the doors. They were about to open soon, and as much as she was excited to do this, she was also terrified. She never wanted those oak doors to swing around and reveal her to her new world.

Abbigale's father met her at the back of the short line of young men and women, and smiled warmly at her, the corners of his eyes and mouth creasing from years of joy and laughter. She detected a hint of mist in his eyes as he beheld her in her dress.

The gown was fitted at the torso and flowed out beautifully from her hips. There was an intricate pattern of beading and lace on the bodice – elegant and exquisite. The skirt was slightly more plain but with lace and jewels lining the bottom. It's color wasn't white. No, it was a distinct cream color. She couldn't have _white_. _Everyone_ had white! There was no train. She thought they were impractical. Her dress was gorgeous, but it wasn't too flashy. It would distinguish her from the rest without calling the words "fashion diva" or "prima donna" to the minds of the lookers. It was perfect; it was her.

The clock struck eleven o'clock, and her stomach jumped into her throat. It was time. Her father took her hand and tucked it delicately into the crook of his arm. As the first sliver of light came from those massive door in front of them, a memory from so long ago came back to her.

_~flashback~_

"_You can't just throw away your life like that!" Abbigale protested._

"_I gave a vow to never let anyone else go through what I went through as long as I could help it. Well, I can help it now, and not doing this would be breaking that vow. I just can't live my life watching Amy suffer, knowing that I could have saved Ian. Besides, Austin's gone. The only person I'd be hurting by my death would be me ultimately."_

"_What about me? What about Drew? We're your best friends, and we love you!"_

_Julianna didn't answer for a while. "When I was almost killed the first time I came here with Carter, I had a vision when I was on the brink of death. It told me that Ian Kabra was going to be the death of me one day. It's only now that I know what that means. I went my whole life thinking that he was going to kill me or something, but... now I see that I have to give my life to save him. I have to do this, Abbigale. I think... I think this is why Austin had to die. So I could do this."_

_The brunette didn't respond but just put her head in her hands and started sobbing. "Please don't do this!" she wailed._

_Julianna went over to her bed and pulled her to her feet and into an embrace. "Try to see reason. The battle is over. The rest of the medics can take it from here. Drew's condition has stabilized, and he'll live. There's no definite reason for me to stay here. I'd just be dead weight. This is what I need to do."_

_Abbigale weeped into her shoulder. "I'm going to miss you. So much."_

"_You have to let me go," she said. "I'll tell you what. On your wedding day, I'll stand at the gates of Heaven and sing at the top of my lungs – loud enough to be heard. I promise. Listen for me."_

_~end flashback~_

And as the doors swung open on their great hinges, she tuned in her ear, listening for something – anything. As the bridal procession made its way to the front of the room, she heard nothing. She listened even harder, but there was no apparent sound other than the music inside the building. She felt slightly disappointed as she started to walk down the isle toward her groom. Didn't she promise?

She glared at the ceiling, hoping Julianna could see her. Then suddenly, from nowhere, a tiny, little voice filled her head with sweet music and laughter. "Did you really think I'd forget?" she asked.

Abbigale was slightly stunned by this new development. Was she clinically insane? She was hearing voices in her head! _Well... Yes?_ she answered back with her thoughts.

Fits of beautiful laughter filled her mind and body and put a smile on her own face. She looked up at her soon-to-be-husband. He looked oddly puzzled and was looking around the room to see who was speaking and feeling his ears and head to see if he had an earpiece or something.

When her father handed her to Drew, she whispered to him through her uncontrollable smile. "Can you hear her, too?"

His eyes widened for a second, and then he smiled. "Yes. She saying something about my hair. Is it really sticking up at the top?"

The brunette giggled quietly and shook her head. He sighed in relief, but a frown creased his features merely seconds afterward. "Now she's saying that my tie is lopsided."

More laughter pealed through their heads._ You're so mean to him,_ she told her friend. "Hey! He was mean to me for thirteen years! Telling me I smelled like feet and such."

She nearly burst into laughter again, for the frown in her voice made it all too apparent that those years had been sweet torture.

Soon the ceremony started, though, and Julianna had to stop distracting them. She made comments here or there on things the preacher said, though, that made them both want to smile or laugh. Especially when Abbigale said she was supposed to obey Drew.

"Honestly, man. You guys both know that's never going to happen. She's a... free spirit," she said with an inaudible wink.

Then, the time came, and they looked into each other's eyes and said the two most binding words that any man or woman can speak to a significant other. "I do."

_~L~_

Ian rushed down the pure white hallways of the hospital, almost dropping his possessions in his haste. "Excuse me!" he shouted as he nearly shoved a nurse into the wall.

"241... 242... 243... 244!" he said to himself as he finally reached his destination. He sighed in relief when he looked at his watch and realized that he wasn't too horribly late. He opened the door and tried to walk in with dignity, but it was incredibly hard when you had so many boxes and bags to carry.

He smiled when he saw his wife sitting on the hospital bed with her wings cradled around her baby, as if she was hiding it from the world. "Good morning, beautiful," he greeted her as he set the bags on the floor by her bed. "I brought all these confounded presents that your friends _insist_ on you having. As if the baby shower wasn't enough."

Amy laughed and looked at the incredible load Ian had managed to carry. "Ian Kabra, you never cease to amaze me."

"Well, I _do_ have wings and superhuman strength. Is that enough to amaze you?" he asked in a joking manner. She laughed and held the baby up to him so he could hold her.

Ian smiled down at the tiny, little bundle. She was small enough to fit most of her body into one of his large hands. She cooed up at him, one of her tiny hands reaching up to her father from underneath her blanket. He could already tell that she would be the spitting image of him. Her skin was darker like his, and she had little tufts of raven black hair. There was one striking difference, though, and it was the part that he loved most about their baby. She had gorgeous, jade green eyes. She were like minute emeralds blazing from her eyes. They were beautiful; they were just like Amy's.

"I still don't know what to name her," Amy said. "They say we have to pick a name soon to put on the birth certificate."

Ian smiled and looked at his wife. "I like... Jade."

_~L~_

**Dun dun dun DUUUUUUN! :D Okay, so I know the epilogue is mostly the wedding, but hey! I saved the best (Ian and Amy) for last! Short and sweet. ;) I hoped you liked it! Please review people because this is your last chance to give me input on this story. You got it! This is done! Over! Hasta la vista! **

******PLEASE READ!******

**Please don't forget to go on my profile and vote on which multi-chap story I should write! Please! I want you guys to be a part of my decisions because you are, after all, going to be the ones reading it. :) I hope you all liked this story.**

**With lots of love in my heart,**

**~Sugar**


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